A Different Life
by samgirl19
Summary: In the beginning Sam Winchester had always wanted a normal life and family of his own,but one night changes it all when his estranged brother Dean shows up and his life is forever changed.*Completely AU*
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or Supernatural they belong to Kripke and the CW. The only thing I own is my own characters**

**Beta: vonnie836 **

A/N – **Please be kind this is my very first story.**

**A/N – Story takes place beginning of season 1 and the story is *Completely AU***

**If you have any questions you can ask me **

**Special thanks: Maliceb, who helped me by explaining on how to do a story, Deanfan, who is a saint for helping me out with this story and to all who are reading this. Thank you all for encouraging me to write, Superloudean for all the wonderful encouragement **

***November 1, 2005 Friday 3:45am**

**Sam and Jessica apartment**

The sound of a crash brought Sam back to consciousness, making him roll over in bed to look at his fiance Jessica, who was still asleep beside him. He climbed out of bed to inspect the noise. When walking into the living room, he noticed a shadowy figure and his gut told him to attack the intruder. Sam charged the man, grabbing him from behind and the two exchange blows for a minute, before the other man slammed Sam to the ground, pinning him there.

"Whoa, take it easy tiger." The man said.

Sam looked at him, as if he was the creature from the blue lagoon.

"Dean, you scared the crap out of me" Sam informed him.

"That's cause you're out of practice" Dean replied.

Quickly Sam rolled, now pinning his brother beneath him. Laughing again Dean said "Or not! Get off me"

"Dean, what the hell are you doing here?" questioned Sam.

"Well, I was looking for a beer" Dean responded.

Sam gave him a look and slowly asked "What the hell are you doing here?

Dean nodded and said "OK, alright, we gotta talk."

Sam gave him the 'duh' look again "Uh, the phone?"

Dean glared at him. "If I'd have called, would you have picked up?"

Suddenly, the light flicked on.

"Sam?" Jessica asked, "Is everything okay down here?" And when Dean looked in her direction, he was surprised and shocked to see her holding a little girl in her arms.

Sam walked over to her and said "Yeah, everything is OK. Jess, I want you to meet my brother Dean"

"Wait, your brother Dean?" Jessica asked, looking more and more confused by the minute.

Dean however was preoccupied with the little girl in Jessica arms. She had brownish- blond hair and her eyes were hazel, he noticed, since she was looking at him and she also was the spitting image of Jess. Dean also was thinking that Sam had a kid with her and he never called him about becoming an uncle and that he so needed to talk to Sam about this later.

Dean was torn out of his thoughts, when Jessica spoke up "Let me go put Gracie back to bed."

"No, its okay I wouldn't dream of it, seriously. Anyway, I gotta borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family business, but uhh.... nice meeting you." Dean spoke quickly.

He got ready to walk out, but Sam stopped him. "No, no, whatever you want to say, you can say right in front of Jessica and Gracie, okay."

"Ummmm....... dad hasn't been home in a few days." Dean replied.

"So, he's working overtime on a 'Miller Time' shift. He'll stumble back in sooner or later." Sam answered annoyed.

Dean rephrased, "Dad's on a hunting trip and he hasn't been home in a few days."

A beat passed, then Sam said "Jess take Gracie back to bed. I and my brother need to go outside."

Sam chased Dean out of the apartment, going into orbit over his brother nerves. "I mean come on!" Sam shouted. "You can't just break in here in the middle of the night and expect me to hit the road with you."

Dean gave him an evil look, "You're not hearing me Sammy. Dad's missing. I need you to help me find him"

Sam scoffed at him. "You remember the poltergeist in Amherst? Or the devil's gates in Clifton? He was missing then too. He always missing and he always is fine."

"Not for this long" said Dean with a frustrated tone. "Now are you gonna come with me or not?"

"I'm not" Sam replied.

Dean gave him a look of genuine confusion. "Why not?"

"Because," Sam said, "I swore I was done hunting, for good. Plus, I have a family to take care of"

"Oh, come on. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't that bad." The older Winchester replied

"Yeah?" Sam retorted, trying to control his temper, "When I told dad I was afraid of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45."

"Well, what was he supposed to do?" dean asked.

"I was nine years old! He was supposed to say, don't be afraid of the dark!" The other man snapped.

"Don't be afraid of the dark?" Dean questioned. "What, are you kidding me? Of course you should be afraid of the dark. You know what's out there."

"Yeah, I know." Sam agreed. "But still, the way we grew up after mom was killed, and dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her.....but we still haven't found the damn thing, so we kill everything we can find." Sam threw in.

"And we save a lot of people doing it" Dean pointed out.

"You think mom would have wanted this for us?" Sam asked

They walked outside, nearing Dean's car, a black 1967 Chevy Impala. Sam wasn't quite finished, "The weapons training and the melting silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors."

"So what are you going to do? You just gonna live some normal apple pie life? Is that it?" Dean accused.

"No," Sam retorted. "Not normal, safe"

"Is that why you ran away?" Dean asked him.

"I was going to college. It was dad, who said that if I was gonna go, I should stay gone. And that's what I'm doing." Sam responded.

Dean nodded. "Yeah well, dad's in real trouble, if he's not dead already, I can feel it. I can't do this alone." Dean answered.

"Yes, you can," Sam pointed out.

Dean had to give him that. "Yeah well, I don't want to." he retorted.

Sam sighed. "What was he hunting?"

"Here we go. So, dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago this guy disappeared." He handed Sam a newspaper clipping, "They found his car, but he'd vanished, completely M.I.A."

"So......maybe he was kidnapped, suggested Sam.

He handed Sam more newspaper articles. "Yeah well, there's another one from April, another one from December '04,'03,'98,'92. Ten of them over the past twenty years, all men, all on the same five mile stretch of road. It started happening more and more, so dad went to go dig around. Then, I got this voice mail, yesterday." He played the voice mail for Sam. It was garbled and there was a lot of static but it was clear enough to hear, "Dean, something is starting to happen, I think it's serious. I need to try and figure out what's going on. Be careful Dean, we're all in danger."

Sam looked at him and asked "You know there's EVP on that?"

Dean smiled. "Not bad, Sammy" he replayed the voice mail. It's a woman's voice now.

"I can never go home?" Sam repeated.

Dean threw his things into the trunk and shut the lid. "You know," he said, "in almost four years, I never bothered you, never asked you for a thing."

Sam sighed, finally won over. "Alright, I'll go. I'll help you find him, but I have to be back here first thing Monday. I have this...... I have an interview." Sam answered.

"What, a job interview?" Dean questioned, "Skip it."

Sam shook his head, "It's a law school interview and it's my whole future on a plate."

"Law school?" Dean inquired.

"So, we got a deal or not?" Sam asked, refusing to budge.

**Author's Note: So do you like the revised chapter or should I stop while I'm ahead? Review and I will know, if I should continue or discontinue. **

** So press that review button below, please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Once again SPN or its characters don't belong to me, they belong to Kripke and the CW**, **but Gracie and other characters belong to me.**

**A/N - enjoy**

**Beta: vonnie836**

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Sam quickly packed his duffel bag. He put in a very wicked looking, sharp blade, just when Jess walked into the room.

"Wait, you're taking off?" She asked, "Is this about your dad? Is he alright?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, you know just a little family drama." He replied.

"But, your brother said he was on some kind of hunting trip." Jessica asked confused.

Sam briefly got a deer-caught-in-the-headlights look. "Yeah, he's just deer hunting up at the cabin and

he probably got Jim, Jack, and Jose with him. We're going up to bring him back."

"What about the interview?" she wondered.

"I'll make the interview." Sam told her, "It's only for a couple of days." He headed towards the door.

"Sam, I mean please, just stop for a second. You sure you're okay?" Jessica pleaded.

"I'm fine," Sam assured her.

Jess sighed, "It's just that you won't even talk about your family and now, you're taking off.....in the middle of the night.....to spend the weekend with them. And with Monday coming up, which is kind of a huge deal…" She trailed off, "You forgot something important" said Jess

"What's that?" Sam asked.

"OMG, don't tell me you forgot Gracie 1st birthday party at the park this Saturday? You promised you would be there." She reminded him with a scowl.

"Oh crap, I forgot about that. I'm so sorry; I'll make it up to Gracie. I'll take her to the park next weekend" said Sam

"Sam, it's not that, you made a promise and you broke it, plus my cousin, my grandmother, my parents, and half our friends are going to be there and you're not" said Jessica getting frustrated.

"Look I'm sorry, but please let's not get into this right now" Sam said.

"Sam, your brother shows up here, needing your help with looking for your dad, when we need you here." said Jessica

"Listen, I have to make sure he is OK and I'll be back before Monday, I promise, ok?" he explained.

"OK" Jess whispered.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Before Sam left the apartment, he entered Gracie's bedroom. "Hey baby, you're still awake? Awww, I'm going to miss you, when I'm gone. But I promise you, nothing will happen to you or mommy."

Gracie just stared at him with a big happy smile.

"I love you Gracie" Sam told her, before leaving the room and bumping into Jessica, who gave him a big kiss for goodbye.

"I'll be waiting for you and I'll probably have Melinda go to the park with me and Gracie on Saturday, since she is in town." She said.

"That's a good idea and besides Melinda hasn't had time to play with Gracie lately. Sorry, I've got to go, before Dean starts honking the horn. Jess, I love you." The young man tenderly kissed her.

"I love you too, Sam. Please be careful, because Gracie will need to see you come home safe and sound" said Jessica.

"Don't worry, Dean and I will be fine, we'll find my dad." Sam promised.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

**Meanwhile …..... Jericho, California **

A dark car flew down the road. The guy behind the wheel was oh so good looking. "

Amy, I can't come over tonight, because I got to work in the morning, that's why. Okay, my dad will skin my ass, if I miss again," Troy paused, when static interfered with the signal. "Hey, Amy let me call you back" He said.

"_Wait Troy, you better not hang up on me. Dammit, he just hung up on me. Oh, he will get an ear full in the morning, when I see him" Amy complained, hanging up the phone._

He heard a high pitch whine. Looking over, he saw a women dressed in a white dress standing at the side of the road. He pulled over and rolled down the window. "Car trouble or something" he asked her.

"Take me home!" The woman said.

"Sure, get in!" He replied and she obliged.

She stepped into the car and closed the door. Yet for anyone pulling up behind the car, it would seem like the guy is alone. Her figure could not be seen. The passenger side door swung, although no one reached out to close it. At least, that's what it looked like.

"So, where do you live?

"At the end of Breckenridge Road" The woman told him.

So Troy drove there and pulled up to the house.

"Come on, you don't live here. This house is like a hundred years old." He looked over to her, to find she was gone. Frowning, he got out and walked up to the house. "Hello? This isn't funny. Ha, ha, joke's over, okay? You want me to leave?"

He went to open the door and bats swooped over his head. He yelled and ran back to the car. Getting in, he started to drive away, frantic with fear. Chancing a look in the mirror, he saw the woman sitting in the back seat. He yelled again, driving straight through a "bridge closed" sign, stopping about halfway across the bridge. Troy screamed and screamed; blood splatters onto the windows until finally everything went quiet.

**Authors Note: So far anyone liking this story? **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Supernatural and its characters don't belong to me; they belong to Kripke and the CW. Other characters solely belong to me. **

**Beta: vonnie836**

**a/n thanks to all who is reading this story and sticking with it **

"Shh..., baby go back to sleep and in a few hours we will be going to see granny Leslie" Jessica said, trying to calm Gracie down.

While she was trying to get Gracie to go back to sleep, the door bell rang and Jessica went to answer it. Before she opened the door, she looked out the window to see that it's her cousin. Jessica opened the door and greeted her.

"Melinda, it's been a while since I've seen you, where did you get that cut on your forehead" Jessica asked, getting worried.

"Oh, that cut is nothing, got hit with a tree branch yesterday. Anyway, where is the little rug rat and why are you still up? It's very late" Melinda answered.

"Well Sam's brother showed up here tonight, needing his help looking for their dad and Gracie is in her bedroom sleeping" said Jessica

"What your fiance has a brother? I didn't know that." Melinda exclaimed, shocked at hearing the news.

"Yeah, me to, I was confused when Sam told me and it's crazy. Sam never mentioned his family that much, then all of a sudden he takes off when his brother shows up the day before Gracie's first birthday and he won't be here for it." Jessica said.

"Oh, Jess I'm sorry about that, but Sam will try and make it up to Gracie. But wow that is strange!" Melinda told her.

While Jessica and Melinda were talking, Gracie started to cry and they stop, so Jessica could make a bottle for her to drink, so hopefully she would go back to sleep. "Hey Melinda make yourself at home, I'm going to go feed Gracie and put her back to sleep." Jessica said.

After leaving Melinda in the living room Jessica walked back to Gracie room with a bottle of warm milk and saw Gracie standing up in the crib crying.

"Oh baby, what's wrong, you hungry?" she asked.

"Dada" Gracie cried.

"Oh baby, daddy isn't here right now, but you're not the only one who misses him." Jess soothed in a

baby-like voice

"Momma." Gracie called out, holding her arms out so she could be picked up.

"Oh baby you want to come with me" Jessica stated, she couldn't say no to her, even when Gracie gave her same the puppy dog look as her daddy.

Walking to Gracie crib Jessica picked her up and walked over to the rocking chair near the corner, feeding Gracie the bottle of warm milk. Soon after the milk was gone and Gracie fell asleep, while Jessica rocked her in the chair. Gently she got up and walked over to Gracie crib, putting her carefully back in, so she could sleep. Then she went back out to the living room to see Melinda had fallen asleep. Turning out all the lights, she headed back to bed.

** Meanwhile.......... on the road**

While driving Dean kept staring at Sam and his ring finger to the point that Sam couldn't take it anymore and almost made his brother jump when he startled him from his thoughts.

"So are you going to keep staring at me or are you going to tell me, what is on your mind?" Sam questioned him.

"Oh ok, well I wasn't staring at you I was just thinking." Dean said in denial.

"OK, sure Dean." Sam was annoyed.

"Alright fine, then what is that ring on your finger, because I think I know what it is, but I want to hear it straight from you!" The older man said.

"Well I and Jessica are getting married next summer, so it would mean I'm engaged" Sam stated.

"Wow, so congrats are in order then." Dean spoke in a sarcastic voice.

"Thanks man!" Sam said, not noticing Dean's sarcasm.

Two minutes of awkward silence was broken, when dean had another question to ask Sam pertaining to the little girl he saw at the apartment.

"So when did Jessica have a kid and why was I never notified about the fact I have a niece? And does dad know he has a granddaughter because he never mentioned anything to me if he knew?" Dean was really getting annoyed at the fact that his brother didn't call him or their dad with news that big.

"Well, I did call you, but your phone was out of service and it's hard to find you anywhere." Sam excused himself.

"Oh good excuse, yeah right you could have called Bobby and told him about it." Dean replied, getting frustrated.

"I wasn't thinking about that and speaking of Bobby, how are he and his two kids doing?" Sam asked, trying to get off topic.

"Oh you know him, the same person he always is, Stella is doing great and Jared is doing good for an 18 year old, who wants to hunt and don't try and change the subject. So since I couldn't be there to see her at her birth, when was Gracie born?" Dean inquired getting back on topic.

"Well she was born November 2, 2004 " Sam answered, even though he knew she wasn't supposed to be born on that date and it made him think, until he was cut off from his thoughts by dean

"Wait, oh man, I'm sorry. If I would have known Gracie's birthday was tomorrow I wouldn't have made you come tonight, we could have left after her party." Dean said.

"Its okay I can make it up to her once we find dad and I get back home" Sam told him with a sad look on his face, one which Dean noticed.

"Hey, Sammy you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay, I just think I made a mistake in coming with you, I feel that we should have waited until after Gracie party to go find dad and I hope I don't regret it" His brother said.

"Sam, if we waited until after Gracie party we won't know what happened to dad and its another day wasted in finding out where dad is and hey don't worry about it, we'll find dad and I'll get you back home soon enough." Dean promised, kind of regretting having asked his brother to come with him and he hoped he didn't do the wrong thing in asking him for his help in finding John.

After a few minutes of awkwardness Dean spoke up again, when he realized something.

"Ummm.....Sam. did you ever realize that Gracie was born on the same date mom died?" Dean asked, recognizing just now that his niece was born on the same date Mary died in the nursery fire.

"Oh crap, I never realized that, nor have I ever thought about it and now that I do, it, well it's kind of a strange coincidence" Sam mused, thinking how strange that the same thing happened before.

"So you okay now?" Dean wondered.

"Yeah, I'm okay now. Hey Dean, are bobby's two kids hunting?" He asked.

"Nah, Bobby won't allow them to hunt until they finish school, but they get to hunt on some weekends and holidays." The older man replied.

"Oh that's good. Is Stella still mad at me for leaving for college?" Sam continued to ask about Bobby's 16 year old daughter, who Sam had a close bond with before leaving.

"I'm not to sure but last I saw her, Stella was fine and even asking about you." Dean replied.

"Oh she was I feel bad for not calling her all these years. I might give Bobby a call once things settle down." Sam responded

After a while on the road talking and catching up Dean stopped the Impala at a gas station to fill it up and get some food. While passing a toy isle, he saw a teddy bear and he picked it up and bought it for Gracie, so Sam could give it to her, when he got back home. After paying for the food and teddy bear Dean walked back out toward the Impala and put the teddy in the trunk, so he could give it to Sam later on, when he took him back home.

**Authors Note: Next chapter starts the case and it kinda going to stray away from the pilot it will be really different then the pilot so bare with me**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I sadly don't own SPN nor do I own the boys they belong to Kripke and the CW. I do own any other characters you might read about.**

**A/N- thanks to everyone who is following this story and to let all my readers know we will be seeing bobby soon. Just to let you all know john and bobby never had a falling out **

**beta: vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOOOOO**

Dean finishing up in the trunk and making sure no one could see the teddy bear, when the trunk was opened, he closed it and walked towards where Sam was sitting in the passenger's side with the door open, rifling through a box of tapes.

"Hey Sam, you want some breakfast?"

"No maybe later! How can you call M&M's and soda breakfast?" Sam asked looking at Dean holding out a bag of M&M's and two sodas.

"Hey, to me M&M's are good to eat anytime I want." Dean replied to Sam question.

"So Dean, how do you pay for that stuff? You and dad still running credit card scams?

"Yeah well, hunting isn't exactly a pro ball career. Besides, all we do is apply, it's not our fault they send us the cards."

"Yeah? And what names did you write on the application this time?"

"Uh, Burt Aframian and his son Hector. Scored two cards out of the deal." dean said, getting behind the wheel of the car.

"That sounds about right, I swear man, you've gotta update your cassette tape collection, tapes are out and CD's are in, so I recommend you buy one and get rid of those tapes." Sam advised.

"Why?" Dean wondered, looking at Sam as if he'd just insulted his taste in music.

"Well, for one they're cassette tapes. And two, Black Sabbath, Foreigner, Motorhead, Metallica. It's the greatest hits of mullet rock." Sam explained

"Well, house rules, Sammy. Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole. He snatches a tape from Sam and pops it in; "Back in Black" by AC/DC blasts from the speakers.

"You know, Sammy is a chubby twelve-year-old, which by the way I'm not anymore. It's Sam, okay? And when I get to drive then I pick the music and you're not going to like it.

"Sorry can't hear you, can you repeat that, the music's too loud" Dean said, driving out of the gas station onto the highway.

"I said that Sammy is a…, oh never mind." Sam exclaimed, trying to repeat, what he said before, but couldn't make himself understood over the loud music.

After traveling a few hours, they passed a sign saying "Jericho 7 miles". Sam was talking on his phone.

"Thank you."Sam ended the call, "Well all right, so there's no one matching dad at the hospitals, jails, morgues or anywhere else, so that's something. I guess."

Dean on the other hand wasn't really paying attention. His attention was caught by a bridge swarming with police and Feds. He pulled the Impala over, leaned over Sam and pulled the glove box open, fishing around in it, before pulling out a Federal Agent badge. He opened his door and climbed out. Turning around, he looked at Sam and said, "Let's go" then walked towards the crime scene.

"You guys find anything" asked one of the cops.

"No, nothing" said the other cop.

"No sign of a struggle, no footprints, spotless. It's almost too clean, like someone just walked away." Another cop chipped in, inspecting the abandoned car.

"So, this kid troy, he's dating your daughter Amy, wasn't he?" another police officer questioned.

"Yeah, they were dating." The addressed officer answered.

"How's Amy doing?" One of the other cops wondered.

"Amy is not doing so well, she is worried sick about troy and she is scared that he might be dead." The officer, who was the girls father explained.

While the officers were discussing things, Dean and Sam walked around the crime scene, like they belong there.

"You fellows had another one like this just last month, didn't you?"

The cop turns around and looked at Dean, saying, "Who are you?"

Dean flashes his badge at the cop and answered, "Federal Agents."

"You two are a little young to be Feds, aren't you?" Another cop threw in.

"Thanks, that's awfully kind of you. You did have another one just like this, correct?" Dean said.

"Yeah, that's right. About a mile up the road, there have been others before that" the officer agreed.

Sam was the next to speak up, "So, this victim, you knew him?"

"Town like this, everybody knows everybody" the officer said, looking at Sam and Dean.

"Any connection between the victims, besides that they are all men?" Dean asked.

"Nope, not that we can tell so far." The officer informed him.

"So, what's the theory as to what's happening here?" Sam inquired.

"Well, honestly we have no clue as to who is doing this but we think serial murder, kidnapping ring, etc the list goes on" the officer said.

"Well that is exactly the kind of crack police work, I'd expect out of you guys" Dean said, before Sam stepped hard on Dean's foot.

"Thank you for your time, Gentlemen." Sam ended the conversation and as they walked away, Dean smacked Sam on the back of his head.

"Owe! What the heck was that for? I think I feel a bump forming." Sam said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, why did you step on my foot? And I really didn't smack you that hard. " Dean answered, getting annoyed.

"Why did you talk to the police like that?" Sam asked.

"Come on, they don't really know what's going on. We're alone in this, I mean, if we are going to find dad, we have to get to the bottom of this thing ourselves." Dean stated.

Sam cleared his throat, behind Dean stood a grim looking sheriff and two men in FBI jackets.

"Can I help you boys?" the sheriff said.

"No sir, we were just leaving. Agent Mulder, Agent Scully" Dean said to the passing FBI agents.

Getting back to the car Sam and Dean got in and Dean drove off until he reached downtown Jericho, where he parked the car. While walking, Sam and Dean passed a movie theater. The marquee read: **Emergency mandatory town hall meeting Sunday 8pm. Be safe out there and don't drive at night**. Next to the theater was the date which says: November 1, 2005 which was a countdown till thanksgiving. Dean looked around and saw a teenaged girl with a few friends tacking up poster's showing Troy's face.

"I bet that girl in black clothing is Amy." Dean said.

"Yeah I think it is." Sam agreed.

Dean and he walked up to her to see if she was in fact Amy.

"You must be Amy." Dean said.

"Yeah, I am, what's it to ya and how you know my name." Amy answered with a slight attitude.

"Yeah, troy told us about you. We are his uncles. I'm Dean, this is Sammy."

"He never told me about you, nor did he ever mention you, not even once." Amy said, getting defensive

"Well, that's troy, I guess. We aren't around that much, we are up from Modesto." said Dean.

"So, we are looking for him, too and we are kinda asking around." Sam said. Then a Goth girl approached Amy, put a hand gently on her arm and said, "Hey, are these two guys bothering you and are you okay." The girl asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay and these two guys aren't bothering me, so thanks for asking Tina." said Amy.

"Mind, if we ask a couple of questions?' Sam wondered.

The four walked down the street into a diner and sat down at a table to talk, Dean and Sam sitting opposite the two girls.

"OK, I was on the phone with Troy. He was driving home. He said he would call me right back and uh, he never did" Amy reported.

"He didn't say anything strange or out of the ordinary that might have made you worry?" Sam asked.

"No, nothing that I can remember" Amy said.

"How 'bout you Tina, did Troy say anything to you the day before he disappeared?" Sam asked.

"No, well my brother is always full of mystery, so no, he didn't say anything strange to me." Tina answered.

Just then Sam looked at Amy's neck and seeing her necklace, he spoke up.

"I like your necklace" Sam said, pointing at Amy's necklace.

"Well Troy gave it to me to celebrate our anniversary, but mostly it scared the crap out of my parents. With all that devil stuff." Amy said.

"Well actually, it means just the opposite. A pentagram is a protection against evil. It's really powerful. I mean, if you believe in that sort of thing." Sam explained.

"Okay. Thank you, unsolved mysteries. Here's the deal, ladies. The way Troy disappeared something's not right. So if you have heard anything at all…" Dean appealed, as the girls exchanged a look, "Let's hear it!"

"Well, it's just...I mean, with all these guys going missing, people talk and this is a small town, so word gets around quickly." Tina said.

"What do they talk about?" Dean and Sam asked at the same time.

"Well it's kind of a local legend in this town. This one girl, she got murdered out on centennial, like decades ago. Well, supposedly she's still out there. She hitchhikes and whoever picks her up, well, they disappear forever." Tina told the boys.

After they finished talking to the two girls, Dean and Sam left the diner and walked down to the library to check into this. Sitting at one of the computer, Dean typed in the search screen "female murder hitchhiking". He found no results. Trying "female murder Centennial Highway", it came out the same - no results.

"Let me try!" Sam said.

"I got it." Dean answered, getting annoyed by the computer search.

Sam shoved Dean's chair out of the way and took over the computer to see, if he could come up with an answer. Dean hit him on the shoulder

"Dude, you're such a control freak." He told him

"So spirits are born out of violent deaths, right?" The younger man questioned.

"Yeah" Dean said.

"Well, maybe it's not murder." He typed in the search "female suicide Centennial Highway" and found an article entitled "Suicide on Centennial". Opening it, he found it was from 1981. "Constance Welch, twenty four years, jumps off Sylvania Bridge, drowns in the river." Sam said, reading the article.

"Does it say why she did it?" Dean wondered.

"Yeah it does" Sam nodded, "It says here in the article, an hour before they found her, she called to 9-1-1, apparently her three little kids were in the bathtub, she left them alone for a minute and when she came back, they weren't breathing. Two were dead and one survived, but sadly died in the house soon after the paramedics got there. Then Sam read a quote from the father. "Our babies were gone and Constance just couldn't bear it! Joseph Welch said."

"That bridge look familiar to you?" Dean asked, pointing at the bridge in the photograph.

** Later that night... on the bridge.**

Later that night they walked along the edge of the bridge, looking down into the churning water. Dean leaned over and remarked, "So this is where Constance took a swan dive."

"So you think dad would have been here?" Sam asked, bracing both hands on the railing.

"Well, he was chasing the same story and we're chasing him" Dean replied, walking away into the gloom.

Sam sighed and followed, "Okay, so now what do we do?"

"We keep digging until we find him. It might take a while." Dean responded.

"Dean, I told you. I have to be back by Mon-"

"Monday…" Dean cut him off. "Right, the interview. Yeah I forgot. You're really serious about this, aren't you? So what, you going to become a lawyer, marry Jessica, and be a dotting father to Gracie"

"Yeah, why not?" Sam said.

Dean turned to look Sam into the eyes. "Does Jessica know about you, Sam? Does she know about everything you've done, about what you are? You need the honesty and a kid in the middle of this is bad. Gracie could get hurt by the things we hunt."

"She will not get hurt and really, like you would know?" Sam snarled and for a moment Dean looked, before his expression smoothed over.

"Does she?" he repeated

"No, she doesn't know and she is never going to find out, if I have a say in it." Sam stated defiantly.

"Oh, that's real healthy. You can pretend all you want, Sammy, but sooner or later you're going to have to fess up to her what you really are."

"Oh, yeah, and what's that?" Sam questioned from behind him.

"One of us."

"No…" Sam nearly shouted. "I'm not like you. This is not going to be my life, I have a fiancée and I have a daughter that I love and that is my new life, not this life, I left all this behind and I don't want anything to do with it anymore."

"You have a responsibility." Dean growled.

"To what? Dad and his stupid crusade? If it weren't for pictures, I wouldn't even know what mom looks like. And even if we do find the thing that killed her, mom's gone for good, and she's not coming back."

Dean beyond mad, grabbed the front of Sam shirt and slammed him against the pole. Sam stared at him, shocked both at his sudden surge of temper and strength. "Don't you talk about her like that, you barely knew her," he snarled, releasing Sam and walking away. Then he stopped in his tracks, when he saw a woman in a white dress standing on the bridge railing.

The woman looked over at them, sadly with a smirk, before she limply swan dived off the bridge. Sam and Dean ran to the railing and look over, but couldn't see anything,

"Where'd she go" Dean asked curiously.

"I don't know" Sam said. Behind them, the headlights of dean's car turned on and the engine started.

"What the....? Dean said aloud.

"Who's driving your car?" Sam wondered. At that point Dean slowly pulled the keys out of his pocket and jingled them. The Impala leapt forward, "Go, go, go!" Dean chanted, running down the bridge beside Sam. They both grabbed the edge and vaulted over.

Sam pulled himself up painfully, his shoulder throbbing. "Dean, Dean!" He roared.

A figure crawled out of the water. "What?" Dean yelled back.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked, who was worried, but once he saw his brother was relieved.

"I'm super." His brother replied flashing thumbs up.

Back on the bridge, Sam asked "The car's alright?"

"Yeah" Dean grumbled "Whatever she did to it, its fine now. That Constance chick, what a bitch!"

"Well, she doesn't want us digging around, that's for sure. So where's the job go from here genius." said Sam with a smirk.

Dean threw his arms up in frustration then flicked mud off his hands. Sam sniffed.

"Dude you totally smell like a toilet." He said, pinching his noise to prove a point.

"I so do not smell like a toilet." Dean rebutted, but when he sniffed himself he said "Ok fine, you're right, I do smell like a toilet, I need a nice hot shower to get this smell off me."

Sitting on the hood of the Impala for a few minutes and thinking about their next moves, they at last hopped into the car and took off.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I sadly don't own SPN nor do I own the characters. They belong to Eric Kripke and the CW. The only characters that belong to me are the ones you will read in this story**

**A/N: I hope you are all liking this story and please bare with me. **

**BETA: vonnie836 who I thank so much for helping me with my story**

** November 2****nd**** 2005**

Upon waking up in the Impala with the sunshine hitting his face, Dean realized it was morning and he went on to wake up Sam.

"Sammy, wake up, I think we should head to a motel, I really stink and I so need a hot shower."

"Sure, whatever…" Sam replied groggy from being woken up.

Dean started the car and drove until he found the closest motel. As soon as he spotted one, he pulled in and parked, waking his brother up once again. They both got out of the car and walked towards the motel office and enter.

Dean threw down a MasterCard on the counter, bearing the name "Hector Aframian". The clerk looked down at it and then stared at the two of them.

"One room, please." Dean requested. Looking at the clerk, who was a grumpy-looking old man, he watched as the guy picked up the card and frowned at it before speaking up.

"You guys having a reunion or something of some sort?" The clerk questioned.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, speaking up.

"I had another guy in here, name was Burt Aframian. He came in here and bought out a room for the whole month and I haven't seen him at all since he rented the room."

Dean gave Sam a knowing look. After renting a room, both went to look for their dad's room. Finding it, Sam pick the lock, while Dean stood watch outside, until his brother's hand reached out and grabbed him, physically pulling him inside. They looked around the room. The walls were organized in madness, completely covered with newspaper clippings, maps, notes, arrows, etc. and the floor was cluttered.

"Whoa" Sam looking at all the mess.

Dean turned on a light by the bed and picked up a half-eaten moldy hamburger sitting there. Sam stepped over a line of salt on the floor.

The older Winchester sniffed the burger and recoiled from the smell of it, "ugh..., I don't think he's been here for a couple of days at least."

Sam fingered the salt on the floor and looked up, "Salt, cats-eye shells... he was worried, tried to keep something from coming in". He explained.

Dean looks at the papers covering the wall.

"What have you got there?" Sam looked at dean and the wall filled with papers.

"Centennial Highway victims…, I don't get it. I mean different men, different jobs, ages, ethnicities. There always is a connection, right? What do these guys have in common? Dean wondered.

Sam had crossed over to the other wall and looked at the papers taped there - they included old articles and drawings, a post-it note reading "Mortis Danse" and a scrap of paper that said "Woman in White" at the far end. Sam turned on another lamp and what he saw, made him realize something.

"Dad figured it out!" He replied with surprise.

Dean looked over at his brother, asking, "What do you mean?"

"Dad found the same article we did. Constance Welch, she's a woman in white" Sam replied

Dean walked over to the wall and looked at the photos on the wall. "You sly dog… All right, if we're dealing with a woman in white dad, would have found her corpse and destroyed it." He said.

"She might have something else holding her here?" Sam mused.

"Well, dad would want to make sure. He dug her up. Does it say where she's buried at?" The older man questioned.

"No not that I can tell. If I were dad though, I'd go ask her husband. If he's still alive." Sam answered.

"All right, why don't you, uh see if you can find an address, while I go get cleaned up." Dean said.

"OK, I'll check it out and hey Dean, what I said earlier... about mom and dad, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." The younger brother apologized.

Dean held up a hand and said "No chick-flick moments!"

"All right…, jerk." Sam replied.

Dean responded by saying "b*tch" to Sam.

As the other hunter strolled into the other room Sam saw something else, so he walked over to pick it up. It was a picture of John and the boys being about eight and twelve. He held the photo up, smiling sadly at it. The next picture he saw is the picture he sent to john's P.O. Box a while back, it was a picture of Gracie a few months after her birth and he smiled, knowing his dad got it. Then he noticed another picture and this one made him cringe, it was a picture of him, when he was a chubby little boy. Snatching it off the wall, he stuffed it in his pocket.

"No one has to see that." Sam thought to himself.

OOOOOOOO

** A few minutes later**

Sam paced, holding his phone. A voice mail message was playing Jessica voice, "Hey, it's me it's about

ten-twenty AM and its Gracie 1st birthday. Just calling to tell you that and …. I miss you like crazy, so does Gracie. Melinda and my folks are here for the party. I just wish you were here to celebrate our daughter's birthday, but I know you need to find your dad. So when you hear this, please call me back. I love you!"

At that moment Dean came out of the bathroom and heard the last of the voice mail. He grabbed his jacket, "Hey man. I'm starving. I'm gonna grab a little something to eat in that diner down the street. You want something? Aframian's buying!" He said.

"I'm not hungry right now, but bring me something back anyway, in case I do get hungry later." Sam requested while replaying the voice mail message.

Once Dean got out to the parking lot and headed to the car, he noticed the cops from earlier.

"Shit this isn't good" he muttered, pulling out his cell phone and dialing Sam's number.

Inside the room Sam still listened to the phone message, when his phone bleeped letting him know someone is calling him.

"What?" Sam asked instead of greeting, whoever is on the line calling him.

"Dude, 5-0, take off!" Dean exclaimed

"What about you?" Sam asked, worry coloring his voice.

"Uh, they kinda spotted me, so I'm toast. Go find dad." he hung up the phone, as the deputies approached. He turned and grinned at them.

"What seems to be the problem, officers?" He asked the two.

"Where is your partner?" One of them questioned

Playing dumb Dean responded "Partner? What, what partner? I don't have a partner, I'm here by myself"

"Boy, don't play dumb with us." one of the cops ordered.

Jerking his thumb towards the motel room, the other deputy headed over in the direction, leaving the older brother fidgeting nervously

From inside the room Sam watched the officer approach. Pulling back from the window, he grabbed the pictures and walked into the bathroom climbed out the window. Once out, he tripped on the curb and fell. Finally getting back to his feet, he started to run off.

Back outside, the cops had Dean in handcuffs by now and questioned him. "So, fake U.S. Marshall I.D, fake credit cards, you have anything that's real?

"My boots." Dean replied with a smirk in an attempt to be funny.

"Oh, so you're trying to be a wise guy now." One of the police officers said.

Once they had taken Dean into custody and read him his rights, they stacked him in the backseat of the patrol car. Talking to the motel manger for a moment, they at least got into in the patrol car and drove back to the police department with Dean in tow.

**Authors note: just bare with me my version of the pilot will be very different soon**


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own SPN or its characters; they belong to Eric Kripke and the CW. All other characters belong to me. 

** Beta: vonnie836**

**a/n: soon it will get AU so bare with me**

* * *

"**S**o you want to tell us your real name, son?" one of the officers asked

Dean watched the heavy man drop a huge box on the table in front of him. "I told you," he insisted, "Its Nugent. Ted Nugent"

"I'm not sure you realize just how much trouble you're in right now."

"We talking about misdemeanor kind of trouble or, uh, squeal like a pig trouble?" Dean replied, trying to be funny

"You got the faces of ten missing persons taped to your wall, along with a whole lot of satanic mumbo-jumbo. Boy, you are officially a suspect." The officer advised him.

"Well, here's where you're wrong. It would make sense, except if you consider the first person went missing in '83', oh lets say, when I was three years old" said Dean

"I know you got partners. One of them is an older guy. Maybe he's the one who started the whole thing?" He pulled out a leather bound book and dropped it on the table in front of Dean.

"So tell me, Dean, is this his book?" The officer questioned, watching Dean's expression

The older Winchester's face froze. The book was their dad prized journal. What the hell was going on? Dad never went anywhere without that thing, ever.

"I thought that might be your name," the cop continued, "I leafed through this book, what little I could make out. It's nine kinds of crazy, but I found this, too."

He leaned forward; looking at the page the cop opened the journal to and looked at it. It mentioned his name with two numbers beneath it, thirty-five and negative one hundred eleven (Dean 35-111).

"_Coordinates"_ He thought to himself, while looking at the page to see, if he could figure it out, "_What the hell kind of a game are you playing here, dad?"_

"Now, you're staying here, even if it takes all day and all night until you tell me exactly what the hell this means." The cop demanded, starting to get mad.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

** Meanwhile... Joseph Welch's residents **

Sam and Joseph were walking and taking in the driveway, while three little kids were running around in the yard screaming and yelling. Joseph was holding the picture Sam had found earlier.

Finally Joseph spoke up, "Yeah, he was older, but that's him. He came by three or four days ago. Said he was a reporter"

"That's right. We're working on a story together." Sam said.

"Well, I don't know what the hell kinda story you're working on. The questions he asked me…" Joseph said.

"Like questions about you wife Constance?" Sam asked, looking at the kids playing with one another.

"He asked me some strange questions, like were she was buried at." Mr. Welch answered, eying Sam watching his kids

"And, where was that again?" Sam wondered, returning Mr. Welch's look.

"What, you kidding me, do I have to go through this twice? Mr. Welch was getting annoyed.

"I'm sorry Mr. Welch, but it's called fact checking, if you don't mind?" Sam tried to reassure him.

"Well, she is buried in a plot behind my old place at Breckenridge" The other man answered.

"Mr. Welch, why did you move from that house?" The younger Winchester questioned him.

"I'm not gonna live in the house, where my children died." The older man persisted.

"Mr. Welch, did you ever marry again?"

"Yes I did. I got remarried 4 years after Constance died. Even though she was the love of my life and the prettiest woman I've ever known, I couldn't keep living in the past. I had to move on with my life." Mr. Welch replied.

"So did you and Constance have a happy marriage?" Sam continued to ask.

"Definitely, I and Constance were madly in love with each other and we loved our kids. But I remarried and I have three wonderful step-kids, who I can see them running around the yard playing cowboys and Indians and I will do anything to protect them." The man said, looking at his three sons with pride.

"Is your new marriage a happy one?" asked Sam.

"Yes, it's a happy one and I love my wife Janice. When Constance died, I thought I would never love anyone again, but when I met Janice I fell in love again." Mr. Welch looked back at Sam.

"Well, that should do it. Thanks for your time. Can I ask you something else? Have you ever heard of a lady in white?" Sam asked.

"A what…?" Mr. Welch called out.

"A woman in white or sometimes called a weeping woman? It's a ghost story. Well, it's more of a phenomenon, really. Um, they're spirits. They have been sighted for hundreds of years, dozens of places, in Hawaii, Mexico, lately Arizona and Indiana. All these are different women, you understand, but all the same story." Sam clarified.

"Boy, I don't care much for nonsense!" Mr. Welch said.

"See, when they were alive, their husbands were unfaithful to them. And these women, basically suffering from temporary insanity, murdered their children. Then once they realized what they had done, they took their own lives. So now their spirits are cursed, walking back roads, waterways. And if they find an unfaithful man, they kill him. And that man is never seen again." Sam continued to explain to Mr. Welch.

"Now wait a minute you think... you think that has something to do with...Constance? You smart-ass!" The husband exclaimed.

"You tell me, Mr. Welch." Sam said.

"I mean, maybe... maybe I made some mistakes. But no matter what I did, Constance, she would never have killed our children. She loved them too much. We would do anything to protect our kids. Tell me something, do you have kids?"

"Yes I do, I have a one year old daughter her name is Gracie." Sam replied to the other's question.

"Wouldn't you want to protect her from anything?"

"Yes, I would because I love her and I wouldn't let anything happen to her."

"That's exactly my point. Constance would never have done something like that. Now, you get the hell out of here and don't you ever come back here! You hear me?" Mr. Welch ordered, getting mad at Sam.

"OK, I'll leave now and I'm sorry Mr. Welch." Sam said, apologizing and leaving the man's property.

While walking back to the Impala and thinking about the case, it made Sam think about the secrets he was keeping from Jess, maybe it was time he came clean and told her the truth and saw what happened after. He didn't want to keep living a life full of lies and make things worse. So maybe it was best, if he came straight out and told Jess everything. He got into the car, hoping he'd get the chance to tell her. He wanted to give Gracie the safe and loving childhood, he never had. Wanted to be the awesome father to Gracie, he always dreamt of. Sam swore to himself he would make it happen, while he drove away from Mr. Welch's property.

**

* * *

Author note:chp 7 and beyond will start to get into the AU so bare with me **


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own SPN or the characters; they belong to Eric Kripke and the CW. All other characters belong to me. **

**A/N: deanfan thanks for helping me with this chapter** **also I would like to thank every person who is reading this story **

**beta: Vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOOOOO**

** Gracie's Birthday **

** Saturday November 2****nd****, 2005**

Melinda Moore woke up early the next morning, so she could start setting up Gracie's party. The whole family was supposed to be in town by the time it started and Melinda was kind of dreading it. Actually, she thought Sam got the better part of the deal.

"Melinda," Jess said walking into the kitchen.

"Sorry" I was trying to sneak out quietly," Melinda said grabbing the party decoration bags.

"I'm usually up around this time. Pretty soon Gracie is going to be hungry," Jess said, walking over to the coffee pot. Opening the cupboard she pulled out a coffee mug and poured some hot coffee into it. "I can't thank you enough for doing this for me."

"Anything for my favorite cousin," Melinda said.

"Becky is still going to help you, right?" She asked.

"Yep and since I knew Sam wasn't going to be at the party, I bought a camera and a video camera to record and take pictures, so he can see every present that she opens or you open and see what he missed at the party." Jess said with tears in her eyes, which Melinda noticed.

"Hey Jess, what are you crying for? Sam will be back." Melinda said, trying to console her.

Once Jess finished crying she spoke, "It's not about Sam; it's about how Gracie made it to her first birthday. I thought Sam and I would never be able to celebrate her birthday and today would also have been Matthew 2nd birthday." Jessica explained, wiping her tears with a napkin.

"Hey, don't worry about that. Worry about the future, not the past. Matthew is in heaven, he is happy and you should be too." Melinda said, grabbing more napkins for Jess to wipe her eyes with and also thinking about how two kids were both born on the same date, which was a weird coincidence. Just then Gracie started crying, taking Melinda out of her thoughts

"Go tend to your kid. I'll let myself out." Melinda ordered.

"You did buy the alcohol to put up with Julie," Jess asked almost begging, while wiping her eyes with the tissue

"It's in the fridge." She yelled, closing the door behind her. Once outside she couldn't help but feel like someone or something was watching her and so she went back inside the apartment.

"Did you forget something," Jess asked feeding a fussy Gracie.

"Sam's coming back after the party right?" asked Melinda a little bit worried.

"Yeah!" Jess said looking at her weird. "You're not in an abusive relationship, are you?"

Melinda almost laughed. "Why?"

"Just whenever I see you, you have unexplained cuts and bruises and now your being paranoid."

"No, I'm not even seeing anyone. Never mind, I'll see you at the party," Melinda said leaving.

Great, she thought, now Jess thinks I'm crazy.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"I think it looks good," Becky said as they sat at the picnic table and observed their work. The party area was set up with pink and light green decorations.

"Maybe we should go into Interior Decorating." Melinda joked, eating some chips that were supposed to be for the party.

Becky smiled. "I seriously hope you're joking."

"It's a shame Sam's not going to be here for it."

"Believe me, Sam wouldn't have left, if it wasn't important," Becky said opening a can of soda.

"That's true. I'm just surprised Dean showed up."

"Sam hardly talks about his family."

"Maybe one of these days I can meet the infamous Dean Winchester," Melinda said with a grin

Becky laughed. "Sounds like you've got a thing for him? Who knows," Becky said. "Maybe you two are soul mates, but you just don't know it yet."

"Yeah that will be the day"

"This looks great," Jessica said carrying Gracie, who was smiling at all the decorations.

"Becky is the decorator. I just watched," Melinda said. Just then they heard cars pulling up

"Great," Melinda rolled her eyes as the rest of the family showed up, followed by Becky's brother Zach. "Let the drinking begin." She said reaching for a beer.

Jessica sat Gracie down on the grass. "Save me some." She said, as she went to greet the family.

Melinda smiled at Gracie. who squealed. "Mommy doesn't know, what she's getting into." She said in a baby voice, earning a laugh from Gracie.

OOOOOOOOOOO

An hour passed and Melinda wanted to shoot herself with rock salt, trying to stay away from the family. She felt bad for Jess, who was in a yelling match with her parents.

"What kind of father misses his child's first birthday," her father demanded

Jessica glared at her him. "You weren't there for my birthdays, so what gives you the right to judge him?"

"Jessica, your father is just concerned for you and his grandchild." Her mother said, trying to keep the peace, which was usually her job.

"They have a child and they aren't even married," her father continued his rant.

"Dad, do you have to do this on Gracie's birthday?" Jessica snapped angrily, "Thank god, she won't be able to remember this."

"Especially with her father not being here." he drawled.

"Peter, leave this poor child alone," Granny Leslie said sharply. "She's doing a wonderful job raising my great grandchild."

"Thanks Grams!" Jessica said with a smile.

"Leslie in your days it was a sin to have a child out of wedlock." Peter Moore protested.

"Times have changed," Leslie said. "It's not a sin anymore."

"Please!" Peter muttered.

"It's not like their never going to get married." She said harshly

"How long will the marriage, last before Sam Winchester cheats on her and gets another girl pregnant out of wedlock?" Peter said angrily.

Jessica slapped her father across the face. "How dare you!" She said storming off.

"Nice going Peter." Katie Moore said, going after her daughter.

"Leslie, you know I'm right about this," Peter said when they were alone.

"Your daughter is an adult. It's her life not yours." She said.

OOOOOOOOO

"Some party eh," Melinda's sister Julie said, sitting next to her on the bench drinking a coke. Melinda didn't say anything.

"Mel, how long are you going to be mad at me?"

"Forever would be nice." She said, drinking some more beer.

"For the last time I never made a move on Matt, he was the one who kissed me."

"Like, I'm going to believe that!" She said taking another drink.

Julie sighed, fed up. "It's not my fault that you guys broke up. You knew, he cheated on you before and you stayed with him,"

Melinda glared at her. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"I saw him cheat on you before and you didn't believe me."

"Matt was possessed and you kissed him!"

Melinda remembered that day, when Julie told her. Later on she found out that Matt had been possessed, but it was too late to save him. The demon possessing him had broken every bone in his body. She had caught the demon and Julie kissing, which was when she had figured out that Matt wasn't himself anymore because he would never do that to her. He had been her first love and they had gotten engaged. She still wore the engagement ring, but now on a gold chain necklace around her neck. It was the only thing she had left of him. It was what kept her going.

"It was stupid, I know that. I didn't know that he was possessed then, when I saw that thing kissing those other girls in public." she said softly.

Melinda tossed the empty beer can in the recycle bin.

"I know you didn't know he was possessed. The demon fooled me too, but it still hurt seeing it." She said hurt.

"If I could take it all back I would. I was barely learning about possession then."

Just then Jessica walked over to them and sat down.

"Happy times," Melinda joked.

"My father's being a jerk. He thinks he knows everything," Jessica said and noticed Julie there. "Are you two talking again?"

"At the moment." Melinda drawled. "Aren't you happy Sam isn't here for this," she said joking.

"I kind of wish I was with him now," Jessica said folding her arms across her chest.

Just then little Gracie walked real fast over to Jessica, but stumbled on the last step, causing her to fall down and start crying.

"I got her." Melinda said walking over to Gracie and picking the still crying toddler up. "It's okay." She said trying to calm her down.

"Da, da…" Gracie cried.

Melinda winced as Gracie's little finger dug into her arm.

"Daddy's going to be back real soon." Jessica said, taking her from Melinda. As soon as Gracie was in her arms, she stopped crying.

"Well it's official. I'm never having kids." Melinda drawled. "Can't even get Gracie to stop crying."

Jessica put the little girl, who now was playing with a balloon, back down.

"You're going to make a wonderful mother some day."

"She already is," Julie said, surprising Melinda, who didn't say anything.

"Jessica can I talk to you," Her father asked.

Jessica sighed. "Not if you're going to talk bad about Sam."

"I didn't mean to be so harsh I just want what's best for my little girl," He said.

"I do have what's best for me," She said. "I was lucky I found Sam. He'll do anything to protect us."

"I know. I'm just sorry. I promise I won't say anything bad about Sam anymore,"

"Can I get that in writing," Jessica joked.

"Don't have to." Julie said, "You've got witnesses." Melinda smirked at that.

"It's okay dad. I forgive you," Jessica said hugging him.

"Well, now that the two of you made up, let's open some presents and cut the cake," Katie said behind them.

"Melinda can I talk to you," Granny Leslie asked.

"Sure grams." Melinda said walking over to her "Is something wrong?"

"I keep feeling like something evil is watching us," She said in a low voice.

Melinda tensed and bit her lip "I sort of felt it at Jess's apartment."

"Just be safe and watch out for Jessica and Gracie," Granny Leslie said.

"I will grams. I think its time we head back to the party." She said, walking with her grandmother back to the party.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the rest of the of the people, something was lurking in the bushes watching them and kind of enjoying the little festivity going on with a evil glare and evil smile. "Have all the fun you want now, but soon the fun really will begin." Then it disappeared.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I still don't own SPN or its characters they belong to Kripke and the CW.**

**a/n: thanks to all for reading and reviewing you all make me so happy when you all read it so thank you all**

**BETA: Vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"I'm telling you, it's my freaking high school locker combo, come on how many times do I have to tell you? Can't you understand or are you deaf?" Dean said not looking at the officer.

"Well too bad, because we're going to sit here until you tell me what this is all about, even if it takes all night long until I get a confession from you. So now are you going to tell me?" the officer demanded. Dean could tell that the officer was getting upset by him not answering his questions.

"I told you already and I'm not going to tell you again." Dean replied, getting frustrated with the officer interrogation.

Just then the door opened and another officer stuck his head in the door, "We just got an urgent 9-1-1 call about shots being fired at Whiteford Road and the caller said there is some injuries, so we need to rush out now."

"Oh ok, I'll be out in a minute." The officer responded, "Do you have to use the bathroom or do you need anything to drink" He asked Dean, after the other cop left the room.

"Uh, no…" The older Winchester replied.

"Well, that's really good, because when I get back, I expect you to still be here." the officer said, as he walked over to Dean and handcuffed him to the table. He then walked out the room and left him with John's journal right in front of him.

A few seconds later the young hunter noticed a paper clip sticking out of the journal and he pulled it out. A smirk appeared on his face. Unlocking the handcuffs, he waited for the department to be clear, before climbing out of the window and down the fire escape. He then made his way to a phone booth with the journal still in his hands.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sam was driving the Impala just below the speed limit, like any good citizen would, thinking about Gracie and how much he regretted having missed her birthday, when his phone rang, interrupting his thoughts.

"Hello" He answered it.

"Fake 9-1-1 call, I don't know Sammy, that's pretty illegal. Listen, we gotta talk!" Dean said.

Sam smiled "You're welcome." He grinned, clearly highly satisfied with himself for providing a successful diversion for his brother's escape.

"Oh, by the way the husband was unfaithful. So we're definitely dealing with a woman in white. And get this; she is buried behind her old house, which would have been dad's next stop. Also get this; he remarried and has three step-kids." 

"Sam, will you shut up and let me finish, sheesh man" Dean interrupted him, getting annoyed.

"I just can't figure out, why dad hasn't destroyed the corpse yet, that's what he usually would have done." Sam pondered.

"Sam, would you shut up for a few minutes and let me talk. That's what I'm trying to tell you." Dean said, finally managing to pass on his own news. "He's gone. Dad left Jericho."

"What, how do you know?" Sam questioned, curious as to why their dad would just leave in the middle of a hunt.

"He left his journal behind." Dean explained.

"Dad never goes anywhere without that journal, ever." Sam exclaimed, remembering the time John even took it with him to the bathroom

"I know that, but this time he did." Dean said.

"So, where's dad going and what does it mean?" Sam asked his brother.

"You know it's the same old ex-marine crap, when he wants to, he let's us know where he is going." Dean told him then explained what he found in the journal.

"What like coordinates?" Sam wondered.

"Yep!" Dean replied to his question.

"Dean, I don't understand, did dad just skip out in the middle of a hunt? What the hell is going on?"

"I wish I knew, Sammy, I wish I knew" The older man replied.

"We have to figure this out Dean, something happened to make dad leave." Sam urged.

All of a sudden Sam looked up, dropping his phone, as he saw Constance in the road ahead of him. He stepped really hard on the brake, but the car went right through her, as it finally slowed to a stop. In the phone booth Dean was getting worried, when he heard the commotion.

"_Sam, Sam, what's going on? Come on man, answer me!_" Dean started to yell into the phone, when Sam didn't answer.

Back in the car Sam tried to catch his breath, after the little scared. Looking into the rear view mirror, he was both shocked and alarmed to see Constance sitting right behind him. For a moment, he just sat there looking at her, until she started to speak.

"Take me home now."


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimers: supernatural and the characters belong to kripke and he cw. The only thing I own is my own characters**

**BETA:vonnie836 thank you so much for helping me**

**a/n: soon it will start getting more into the realm of Au**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"Take me home!" she ordered again.

"No!" Sam's answer was final.

Constance glared at him. The doors locked themselves, leaving Sam struggling to open them. The gas pedal was pressed down by an invisible force and the car began to drive without Sam's help, freaking him out even more and leaving him desperately struggling for control over a situation that is hopelessly uncontrollable. At last the car comes to a stop in front of the abandoned house and switched itself off.

Sam pleaded with her, "Please don't do this!"

"I can never go home, I did bad things." Her face looked sad, yet the tone of her voice was flat, as she said the words.

you're scared to go home!" Sam replied.

He looked back and she was gone, reappearing in the front seat only an instant later. She climbed into his lap, aggressively sexual.

"Hold me, I'm so cold, I need warmth." she pleaded.

"You can't kill me. I'm not unfaithful. I never have been!" Sam replied, spooked by her behavior.

Constance grinned, "Oh, don't worry, you will be. I will make sure of it. Just hold me."

She kissed him, as he struggled to reach the keys. Without warning she pulled back and disappeared, making Sam yell out in pain, when her image flickered back into sight in front of him only a moment later and she stabbed her hand into his chest. A sudden gunshot went off, startling the ghostly woman and as Dean approached the shattered window from the outside, still firing his gun at her, Sam managed to lean forward and start the engine..

"I'm taking you home." Sam screamed, driving the car forward and smashing through the side of the house, Dean rushing in after him and yelling out for his brother.

"Sam, are you okay buddy?" The older man ran up to the car and pulled his brother out of it.

Constance walked through the debris, picking up a photograph. She looked it over with a fearful expression on her face. It was a picture of her and her three kids, a son and two daughters. She glared at the two Winchesters, before setting the photograph down. Using her powers, she moved a dresser, making it pin them to the side of the Impala.

She took a step forward towards the brothers, when suddenly the lights upstairs started to flicker and the laughter of children could be heard. Turning towards them, the fear was evident on her face. Just then water started running down the stairs and her eyes grew wide, as her three children stood on the top of the steps looking down at her.

"You've come home to us mommy, we missed you so much, why did you leave us all alone? We've been looking for you for a long time" They called in unison.

She took a step back in fear, as they rushed her. Once their hands were around her waist, she screamed and her image flickered. In a surge of energy, still screaming, she and her three children melted into a puddle on the floor.

Watching the scene in awe, Sam and Dean shoved the dresser away and went to the spot where mother and children vanished.

"So this is where she drowned her three kids." Dean told Sam.

"That's why she could never go home, she was too scared to face them" said Sam, as soon as he realized why Constance was so scared of going home.

Dean then replied "Nice work Sammy, you found her weak spot. Dean slapped Sam on the chest, where he'd been injured and the younger man laughed to keep from yelping in pain. He turned to Dean as his brother walked back to the car.

"Yeah, I wish I could say the same for you. What where you thinking, shooting Casper in the face, you freak? You almost got us killed" Sam said, as he walked up to Dean, who was looking at the car.

Dean responded with his own remark "Hey, saved you ass." He bent down to inspect the front of the Impala, covered with wood and furniture. "I'll tell you another thing. If you screwed up my car, I'd kill you, only then Jess would be upset with me."

Once in the car Sam asked his brother, " Hey Dean, how did you get here in time, since I had the Impala?"

"How do you think I got here, Sammy? I flew!" Dean replied with a grin.

"You did?" Sam asked, all the while laughing.

"No. I borrowed a car, hot wired it and drove all the way down here. If I hadn't, it would have been really hard to tell Jess that the father of her child died. So I had to come and save your ass." Dean said.

"Hey Dean, thanks for saving me." Sam told him, being grateful.

"Hey anytime, you're my little brother, I would save you no matter what." Dean replied lightly, noticing that his little brother looked a little upset.

"Hey, what's wrong" He asked.

"Well, since I'm a dad, this case somehow made me think and realize that I need to protect Jessica and Gracie and it made me see, what harm people can inflict to their own children." Sam said thoughtfully.

"Hey, don't worry about it. You're doing a good job being a dad to Gracie. Nothing will happen to her, you're ok now." Dean assured him.

"Yeah I will be, as soon as we get away from here. So what are we going to do now?" The younger man said.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm starving and I need some sleep. I think we should head into town and find a diner and a hotel. We can leave tomorrow evening." Dean responded.

"Sounds good to me, but I think we should head back." Sam voiced his concern.

"Sam look, I'm tired and I'm not driving half awake, so we'll go find a diner and a hotel for some good relaxation. Once we recharge we leave. One more day of being away from home won't make a difference, nothing will happen, trust me. I'm the older brother, I know." He promised, not knowing those very words would come back to bite him later.

"Ok, I'll go with your plan, but once we recharged, we head back" Sam reluctantly agreed, worried about being gone so long from Jessica and Gracie.

Once they managed to get back into town Dean had no trouble finding a good diner to eat. After they ate he found the nearest motel and got them a room. Once they entered it, both boys dropped down on the beds and passed out once they hit the pillows.

While sleeping Sam had another nightmare of Jessica pinned to the ceiling, screaming out to him to save himself and Gracie. Waking up, he looked around the room to see Dean still asleep. Whatever this dream was warning him of something he needed to stop, but what or how? He got off the bed and walked outside with his cell phone in hand and called Jessica. On the third ring a groggy, sleepy Jess answered.

"_Sam, you know what time it is? It's late…" Jessica said in a groggy_ _voice._

"I'm sorry babe, I was just calling to check up on you, needed to hear your voice." Sam replied.

"_It's ok; we can talk for a few minutes. So what you want to talk about?" she asked. _

"So how was Gracie party?" Sam wondered.

"_It was ok and wonderful, a lot of our friends were there and Gracie got a lot of gifts and she was asking for you. And she smashed cake all over her face, it was so cute and adorable." Jess_ _filled him in._

"She did that…, awe; I wish I was there to see it. But no worry, I'll be home Sunday and we can take Gracie out to the park on Monday after my interview" The young father replied.

"_That's a good idea and really, you didn't miss anything, I video taped it so you can watch it. Sam did you and your brother, find your dad?" Jessica_ asked.

"Yeah, we did" He replied, even though it was a lie.

"_Oh that's good, can't wait for him to finally meet his granddaughter_" Jessica said, but before she could finish talking to Sam on the phone, Gracie started crying

"Is that Gracie crying and who the other person?" Sam asked, hearing Gracie crying in the background and another girl talking.

"_Yeah it is and that is my cousin Melinda. Sam I have to go and feed her, we can finish talking, when you come home. But before I go, I have one more thing to say, I love you, come home soon!" She said, before hanging up._

"I love you too, babe." Sam said to her, before she hung up the phone.

Closing the phone, he put it back into his pocket and walked back into the motel room. Turning around before closing the door, he felt like someone was watching them. Unable to see anyone, he closed the door and went back to sleep.

What Sam didn't know was that this phone conversation would be the last time he would ever be able to talk to Jessica that after this night his life would change forever.

Meanwhile a mysterious figure was standing afar from the motel, watching the Sam talk on the phone and disappear back into the room again. An evil laugh burst out of it and it rubbed its hands together in satisfaction, "Oh soon, very soon the fun will really begin and the plans will finally come into effect." Then it disappeared into thin air without leaving a trace.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or its characters; they belong to the awesome mind of Kripke and the CW. **

**BETA: Vonnie836**

**A/N - I hope everyone is enjoying this story so far. And this is the part of the pilot that made everything fall into place **

**OOOOOOOOOOOO**

The Impala tore down the road with one headlight busted. Inside Sam had their dad's journal and a map open on his lap and was trying to find coordinates with a ruler and a flashlight tucked under his cheek.

"Okay, so here's where dad went, it's called Black Water Ridge, Colorado." Sam said, after finding out where the coordinates would lead them to.

"Sounds charming; so how far?" Dean replied

"Oh, about six hundred miles." Sam answered, while still looking at the map.

"Hey, if we shag ass, we can make it by morning" Dean mused, looking at the time which showed 11:17 AM.

"Dean, umm..." Sam hesitated after what Dean said.

"Let me guess you're not going?" His brother asked disappointed, but not showing it.

"The interview's in like 10 hours. I gotta be there, plus I promised Jessica I'll be back by then." Sam said looking at him.

Dean nodded disillusioned "Yeah, yeah, whatever, I'll take you back home."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

A few hours later they pulled up in front of the apartment with Dean still frowning. Sam got out and leaned over to look through the window.

"So call me, if you find dad. And maybe I'll hook up with you later and dad can meet his granddaughter. Oh and Dean, I think you should also fix the busted headlight" Sam said

"Yeah, alright and I will once I have time." Dean replied. Just as Sam started to walk away, he spoke again. "Sam, you know, we made one hell of a team back there."

"Yeah, we did." Sam agreed.

"Hey, Sam tell my niece happy birthday" Dean said with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, I'll tell her and you're more then welcome to stop by, whenever you want to visit her and oh I forgot to give you this." The younger man said, handing Dean a picture of Gracie.

"I'll think about that, so thanks for the permission Sammy and hey thanks for the picture." Dean said as Sam walked away into the apartment. He waited until his brother disappeared inside then drove off.

Once inside the building Sam walked up the steps to the apartment. Upon entering, he realized how quiet it was.

"Jess, you home?" He yelled.

He saw a plate with a piece of cake wrapped in plastic wrap sitting on the table with a note attached, saying "Missed you! Love you and saved you a piece of Gracie birthday cake." He picked up the plate and the fork and started to eat it as he crept towards the bedroom in order to not wake up Gracie. He walked past the closed door to her room and entered Jess and his bedroom with a smile on his face. Sitting on the bed, he shut his eyes and flopped down onto his back.

Suddenly, something wet dripped onto his face. He flinched and opened his eyes, gaspping in horror at what he sees, as it will haunt him for the rest of his life - Jessica pinned to the ceiling, staring down at him, bleeding from a gapping wound on her belly.

Sam let out a scream of terror for her, "Nooooooo…!"

At that very moment Jessica, the love of his live burst into flames, the fire spreading across the ceiling in a matter of seconds.

Unaware of what was going on inside, Dean knocked at the door, opening it, when he didn't get an answer. Looking around, he called out "Sam, where you at?", when he heard his brother's screams coming from what has to be the bedroom.

"Jess!" Sam screamed.

Dean ran into the bedroom and saw Jess pinned to the ceiling on fire, just like their mom twenty-two years ago. Dean let out screams of his own for his brother "Sam! Sam! Come on, we got to go"

He started to pull Sam out of the room, the kid struggling against him and screaming all the while.

"Jess, Jess, no…! Noooo…!"

Both of them stumbled and fell down the stairs and out the front porch onto the grass, as the building burst into flames. Sam was back on his feet within seconds, heading back towards the flames. Dean tackled him to the ground, pinning his arms behind him and wrestling him to stay down, while Sam continued screaming and yelling.

"Let me go, Dean, man please, I need to go back inside pl..."

He was cut off by the sound of sirens and blue-red lights blazing through the neighborhood towards them. Fire officers trained their hoses at the burning windows, while police officers tried to assist Dean in restraining Sam.

"Son was there anyone else inside with you?" the officer asked, trying to keep Sam from running back inside the burning building.

The young man screamed at the officer, trying to tell him to go back inside for his fiancée and daughter, yet the officer only kept telling him it was too late, no one could have survived this fire.

"Sam you need to calm down, they are trying their best." Dean said, trying to calm Sam down and at the same time worrying about Jessica and Gracie. Just then Sam looked at him with hatred and anger in his eyes.

"Why didn't you come sooner?" Sam looked at him, tears streaking the soot on his face. "Why did you come here at all? If I hadn't left …, if I had been there...This is all your fault, if you didn't come here at all to get me Jessica and my little girl would still be alive, its all you fault!" Sam screamed at him, at the same time also realizing, it was his fault just as much. If he just would have said no to dean things would have been fine.

Dean could feel the hate radiating off Sam and for a split second it was directed at him. He hates himself, his actions responsible for ruining his brother life. And then it was gone and there was despair and pain for his brother and what he lost.

Dean just stood there, feeling guilty for what happened. Sam was right he, shouldn't have come here in the first place. Now instead of just missing his daughter birthday, he lost her and Jessica forever. His brother's sobbing and crying broke Dean's heart. Not only did his brother loose a daughter and a fiancée, he lost a niece, which he never even got to know. Just then Dean heard a voice calling Sam name and he looked around till he spotted a figure running towards them.

"Sam! Sam! Oh my God, what happened? No, no, this can't be happening again!" An unknown voice called out

When Sam heard the voice, he looked up; his vision blurry with tears. What he saw shocked him and if possible broke his heart even more.

**Authors note: dun dun Ok, so who do you think Sam is seeing to make him feel like this? **


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own the boys or supernatural they belong to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my own characters**

**BETA: vonnie36 thank you so much for helping me**

**a/n:thank you all for the support in reading my first story also I have a banner for this story on my profile**

**OOOOOOOOOOO**

When Sam looked up, he saw Melinda standing in front of Dean holding something in her arms. Getting up from the ground, he walked towards them. The moment he recognized what she was holding, he lost all control and let his tears flow freely. Safely snuggled up in Melinda arms was a sleeping Gracie.

The moment the younger Winchester walked up close enough to Melinda for her to see the emotions on his face, she knows something terrible happened and it takes her but a split second to figure out who or what caused it.

"Sam, what happened, where's Jessica?" Melinda asked her voice shaky with fear.

"Ummm... Jess…, Jess is dead" Sam replied wiping his tears with his sweater, his voice suddenly sounding hollow and empty.

"You're joking…, right?" Melinda asked, hopeful doubt coloring her voice.

"No, it's true." Sam said, walking over to where Melinda was standing, taking Gracie out of her arms and whispered to her.

"Hey baby girl, you scared daddy, but you're safe now!" he said in a calming voice, before he continued a little sharper, "Where were you and Gracie?"

"Jessica told me to take Gracie out for a little stroll to calm her down, because she was crying a lot and Jess said walking around the neighborhood usually settles her." Melinda responded, realizing if she wouldn't have taken Gracie, Sam would have lost not only Jessica but his baby girl too.

Walking over to Dean she whispered quiet enough so no one else could overhear the conversation, "Dean, what really happened here? Did the Yellow Eyed Demon do this?"

As soon as she had said it, she already regretted her words, cursing herself, because she knew Dean was likely to think she was crazy for saying such things. So it surprised her even more, when she heard the young man's reply.

"How do you know about the Yellow Eyed Demon?" Dean left no doubt that he expected an answer.

"It's a long, painful story, which I don't really want to remember. I know about this demon, well…Ummm... I'm a hunter. I hunt supernatural creatures."

She had said it loud enough that Sam heard her and came over to where she and Dean were standing.

"What? You're a hunter…?" Sam said with disbelief, while tears continued falling down his face and he was still holding on tightly to sleeping Gracie.

"Who else in Jess' family is a hunter?" Dean commanded to know.

"My sister Julie knows about the supernatural world, but refuses to hunt and Jessica grandmother is a retired hunter." Melinda answered, looking at the firefighters putting out the flames in the apartment.

"Did Jessica know about this?" Sam asked, as he looked at Melinda

"No, Jess never knew." She replied, staring at Sam and Dean with guilt.

Just then Melinda cell phone rang and she hurried to pick it up.

"Aunt Kate what's wrong?" She spoke into the phone.

"_I feel like something is wrong." The voice on the other end replied._

"Aunt Kate something happened at the apartment and it's not good. I talked to a paramedic and he said you should meet us at Stanford General Hospital. They'll tell you what happened." She replied.

"_What are you talking about Melinda, what happened?"_ Kate replied shocked.

"I can't tell you on the phone, we'll talk at the hospital, ok bye." Melinda insisted, hanging up the phone

Just then a paramedic came over to them and started to speak to the group.

"I think you should go to the hospital, so they can check that cut and make sure nothing else is wrong" The medic, whose name tag identified him as Rick, recommended.

"Oh ok, umm Sam, we'll go in my car to the hospital, so they can check you out." Dean said.

"Right…" Sam replied looking up at his brother.

"You can follow the ambulance to the hospital" Rick continued, before he walked over to the vehicle and got in.

The three adults, Sam still holding on to baby Gracie, got into the Impala and followed the ambulance.

OOOOOOOOOOO

**Meanwhile...back in the apartment**

The inside of the apartment was destroyed, yet just a mysterious figure crouched down next to Jessica burnt body and put its hand on her head, starting to speak, "Bless my child, soon you will be going home. Once your mission is over, I'll watch over your child and make sure nothing bad ever happens to her and..." Before the figure could finish speaking,it heard people walk into the room and it disappeared.

Two firefighters came into the room, looking around and inspecting the wreckage. Suddenly one of them stopped and stared at the gruesome discovery he just made.

Turning to his buddy, he said, "Oh no, Peter I think I found the body. Poor girl, she is so young and her life ended too soon and in such a horrible way."

"Check the body, Eric and let the captain know, so they can send in the paramedics to get it out of here" The one called Peter instructed.

"Yeah ok, I'll check." Eric replied, putting his fingers on the body's neck. Due to the state in which the body is in, he knows there is no way the girl could be alive, yet it's his duty to check anyway. As his finger tips touch the burned skin, he freezes, before crying out, "Peter, she..."

**Author's Note: dun dun I'm evil; I left it at a cliffhanger so you guys can try and figure out what happened.**

**Some facts:**

**Melinda-26 years old born February 15, 1979 same age as dean**

**Julie-18 years old born September 20,1987**

**Stella singer-16 years old born October 25,1989**

**Jared singer- 18 years old born august 25,1987**

**also Melinda and Julie last names are Johnson but they changed it to Moore **


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: sadly the supernatural nor the brothers or other characters belong to me they belong to the awesome kripke and the cw**

**a/n: this chapter might make you teary or not or maybe sad so tissue alert also thank you all for reading and reviewing you all make me so happy**

**BETA: he wonderful vonnie836 thank you so much for your help**

**OOOOOOO**

"Peter, she has a pulse. It's sluggish, but it's definitely there. Go get the paramedics and bring them here, now!" Eric ordered.

"Yeah ok, be right back." The other man replied, rushing out the room.

"Listen, can you hear me? You're going to be ok, we are to help you!" Eric reassured, just as Mark and Tim, two paramedics from his department rushed into the room, calling out orders and demands.

"How can she be still alive? No one could have survived this fire. Look at her burns, as severe as they are, they should have killed her right away." Mark called

"I don't know about you, but I have the feeling someone is watching over her. Her pulse is fading fast though; we need to transport her to Stanford general, now" Tim, the other paramedic demanded.

After securing Jessica to the stretcher, they carefully carried it down the stairs and into the waiting ambulance. Once there, they rushed the vehicle to the hospital.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Meanwhile...Stanford General Hospital

Sam was pacing the length of the waiting room and back, whereas everyone else was sitting down, waiting to hear, if they found anything back at the apartment. The young man was sporting a band aid on his cheek now, while Gracie was still asleep in Melinda's arms, who was also consoling a crying Mrs. Moore. Jess' mother rushed over to the hospital, after her niece had called her and told her about the fire and that her daughter still hadn't been found.

Sam continued to pace, until Gracie woke and started to cry. Hurrying over to her, he picked her up and tried to calm her, yet the next thing the toddler said broke his heart and made him tear up again.

"Momma…"

Dean was torn out of his thoughts by the crying baby and looking up, his heart broke. His brother was holding Gracie in his arms, crying and speaking softly to her.

"Mommy isn't here baby; she went home with the angels!" The young man whispered.

Melinda walked over to where Sam was sitting at and sat down next to the heart broken father

"Sam, if you want, I can take Gracie down to daycare, while we deal with this?" She asked, trying to take the little girl out of Sam arms, yet seeing him hold on even tighter, she gave up and went back to sit down in the corner next to her sister Julie and Granny Leslie.

"Melinda what happened?" Julie asked in a low voice.

"The thing that killed Ethan and dad's grandma, when he was six months old, killed Jessica tonight. And what is really strange, I think Sam's brother is a hunter also and both of them know about this demon." Melinda filled them in.

"What, it's back? Oh my god, this is bad! But how do they know about this demon?" Julie wondered, shocked about what she just heard.

"I'm not to sure, but we have to help Sam protect Gracie from this demon." Melinda replied.

"Oh dear that child will grow up without a mother!" Leslie shook her head in despair.

While the three women were talking, Becky walked over to Sam and Gracie and tried to comfort him.

"Sam, is there anything I can do?" Becky asked, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Sam looked at her, "Thanks Becky, but I got my brother he can help," all the while he never seized rocking Gracie back to sleep.

"Ok but Sam, if you ever need my help, you know my number." She said.

A few minutes later a doctor came walking into the room, the look on his face saying it all.

"Family of Jessica Moore?"He asked.

"Right here" Mr. Moore spoke up.

"I'm Dr. Greene. I have some grave news, a few minutes ago an ambulance brought your daughter in, but the strange thing is, she is still alive." The physician told them.

"What, how is that possible?" Mr. Moore questioned.

"We don't know, her burns are so severe, there is nothing we can do for her, it's a miracle she is even still alive. The only thing we can do is to keep her comfortable" The doctor told them.

As soon as Dr. Greene finished speaking, Sam, who up to then had listened with disbelief, handed his daughter over to Melinda and walked over to the man.

"Are you saying she is still alive?"

"For now she is, but her body is shutting down and she won't be able to hold on very much longer. She is conscious and able to talk, but I have to warn you, her body whole body is bandaged and we had to put her on strong pain medicine due to the severity of the burns." The doctor cautioned him.

"C…can I see her?" Sam asked, fighting to hold his tears in.

"Sure, I'll be back to get you in a moment." Dr. Greene replied, before he excused himself.

Sam made his way back to where Melinda was holding Gracie, taking her from her arms and sitting down on one of the chairs.

He looked at his fussy baby daughter, "Guess what, mommy is alive and you'll get to see her."

Dean joined him where he was sitting and looked at him, "Sam, please don't get your hope up to high, the doctor said she doesn't have very much time."

"It's enough for me to say my goodbye to her and let her see Gracie for one last time." His brother replied.

Just then the doctor came in again and walked, "She ready for you now, but only two people are allowed in the room at a time. Under normal circumstances the baby wouldn't be allowed in, but I think we can make an exception here." He said.

"Sam go ahead and see Jessica and take Gracie with you." Mr. Moore nodded at him.

Getting up with Gracie in his arms and following the doctor down to the burn ward, every ounce of his strength waned, when he turned the corner and saw Jessica and she saw him. Their eyes locked and her words brought tears to his eyes again.

"Sam...is ….that...you?"

**Authors Note: What I'm trying to do, is letting Sam say his goodbyes to Jessica, because in the show he never got to do that.**

**Also I uploaded pictures of he people in this story so you can see It in my profile**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: sadly I don't own the boys or any characters from the show or supernatural they belong to kripke and the cw**

**a/n: I'm grateful to all you who are reading this story you all make me happy with tears**

**warning:tissue alert this chapter might make you teary or not**

**BETA: Vonnie836 thank you so much for helping me**

**OOOOOOOOO**

Sam walked into the room with Gracie in his arms, pulling up a chair next to the bed and gently grabbing Jessica's bandaged hand in his, mindful of not adding to her pain.

"Jess, I'm so sorry, I should have been there. I shouldn't have left with Dean" Sam whispered with tears in his eyes.

"It's... not... you're …fault!" Jessica pushed out, fighting to breathe and talked at the same time.

"Yes, it is my fault and now you're dying!" Sam argued.

"Sam...it's...not...your fault ...if you...would've… stayed...you would...have been...in that...fire too." An out of breath Jessica replied.

Just then Gracie crawled onto Jessica's bed and stared at her then squealed with delight, making both Sam and Jess smile, yet this also made Jess realize, she wouldn't be around to see Gracie grow up and sadness flooded her mind.

"Sam...I need you...to do ...something." she said.

"What is it Jess? Anything…" Sam promised

"I want...you...to promise...me...that...you'll...move on...for the...sake of...of Gracie" The dying mother requested.

"Jess, I don't know if I can do that?" Sam answered truthfully, wiping his eyes.

"Sam...you...have...to...for...Gracie... please!" Jessica told him.

"Jess, I really don't know, if I can do this, but I promise I'll try" Sam assured her.

Right at that moment Mr. and Mrs. Moore came into the room and Kate ran toward Jess and started sobbing.

"Mom... dad... I need…you...to promise...me...you won't...take…Gracie away...from...Sam!" Jessica breathed out.

"Jessica honey, we would never do such a thing. Me and your father believe, she is best off with Sam" A sobbing Mrs. Moore hurried to say.

"Come on Kate; let them be together, we'll come back later." Mr. Moore pulled his crying wife out of the room.

"Gracie, be careful with mommy." Sam instructed their baby girl, who was still sitting on the bed with her mother

"Sam, promise...me...you'll...take...good...care...of...our...daughter." Jessica asked.

"Gracie will be taken care of really well and she will grow up knowing all about you" Sam pledged, looking at Gracie, who was pointing at Jess and clapping her hands.

The door opened again, this time letting Melinda step into the room.

"Hey Jess, I'm so sorry about what happened!" Melinda said with tears in her eyes, before sitting down next to Sam.

"It's...ok...if Gracie...didn't wake…up...you... and her...wouldn't...be...alive...right... now." Jessica told her, having increasingly more problems breathing.

"I'm going back to the waiting room and let Becky come in." Melinda said, getting up and leaving the room.

"Ok!" Sam absentmindedly replied, never taking his eyes off Jess.

"Sam...someone was...in...the apart...ment..." The burned young woman said in between gasps for breath.

"Jess, who was in the apartment? Who did you see?" Sam tried to get her to tell him, who was there.

"Man… with..." She desperately tried to tell him, knowing time was running out. As she started to gasp for air like a fish out of water, the monitor started going off and the lights on it started to blink like crazy.

Sam pulled Gracie into his arms, running screaming into the hall. "Help! We need help in here!" He yelled.

A doctor and several nurses ran by him into the room. Jess' parents, Becky and half her family followed, stopping at where Sam is standing with a crying Gracie. The door to the room slammed shut, denying access to all off them.

"Sam what happened?" Mr. Moore pried.

"We…we were talking, when she started to gasp for air and the monitors started going off." Sam explained, continuing to hold on to a now calm and quiet Gracie.

At that moment the doctor and nurses came out, the doctor walking up to Sam and the rest of the family.

"She is alright for now, but her breathing is getting worse and her organs continue to shut down at an alarming rate. I would say she might have anywhere between a few minutes to a few hours before her whole body shuts down. I wish I had better news, but I don't. You can all go in and see her." He informed them, before leaving with a serious expression

Sam and Gracie waited in the hall while the Moores and Jessica's other relatives and friends went in to talk to her. A few minutes later they left and Sam entered the room with Gracie.

"Sam...I...don't...have...a...lot...of time...left...I...have...to...tell...you... something...I love...you...You're...the...best...thing...to come...in to...my...life... We created...a beau... tiful...daughter." Jessica pushed out, fighting for every breath, while talking.

"I love you too!" Sam tenderly replied, unable to hold back his tears, he sat Gracie back on the bed with Jessica.

"Baby...be...good...for...daddy...Mommy… will...always...love...you" Jessica looked at her little girl with tears in her eyes, wetting the bandages around her eyes.

"Sam...the man...in...our..." before she could finish, her hand slackened in Sam's grasp and the machines start blaring.

Scared by the loud noise, Gracie started crying, just as the doctor and nurses stormed into the room. While the physician checked on his patient, one of the nurses tried unsuccessfully to push Sam out of the room, as the young man wouldn't have any of it.

"No!" He said, leaving no room for protest, "I'm staying with her!"

"Let him stay." The doctor said, turning around.

"Jessica, please tell me, tell me what you wanted to tell me…" Sam pleaded, his voice filled with desperation, while wiping his eyes and holding on to his crying daughter.

The doc nodded sadly, knowing that the young woman was beyond help. Exchanging a look with the nurses, he blinked to hold a tear back then called time of death.

"Time of death 8:12 AM" He said, while one of the nurses turned off the machine, the other quietly walking over to the silently crying man, who had fallen into the chair next to his dead fiancee.

"I'm so sorry, we did the best we could, but her burns were too severe for her to survive. It was a strange miracle, she survived this long" The doctor said.

The door opened, as the Moores and the others barged in, crying and grieving the loss. Sam never noticed any of it; too busy looking at the still form of his fiancee. She was supposed to become his wife and now this would never happen. She would never be with him again, would never see their daughter grow up.

It wasn't until Melinda put her hand on his shoulder that he noticed them.

"Sam, we need to go. They have to take Jessica's body down to the morgue" Melinda said with tears in her eyes, taking Gracie out of the room to calm her down.

Sam still wasn't moving, when Dean came into the room. It tore the older brother apart to see his brother in this state.

"Sammy, come on buddy, we have to go!" He coached the other man.

Suddenly snapping out of his daze, Sam looked at Dean and looked at the bed. Standing up, he crawled into the bed with Jess.

"I love you so much. I'm so sorry baby, this is all my fault. I swear I will find the demon, who did this to you!" He vowed, before he broke down in an uncontrolled sob.

Dean didn't have the heart to take Sam out the room, yet he knew he had no choice, as they needed remove Jessica's body.

"Sam come on, we have to go" He repeated.

Finally getting up off the bed, Sam kissed Jessica on the forehead and looked at her one last time, before he walked out the room with his brother. Returning to the waiting room, where everyone else was waiting. He walked to the back of the room and slid down on the floor, breaking down crying, until he felt someone touching him. When he looked up he saw Gracie standing on wobbly legs in front of him. Grabbing her, he wrapped her in a big hug.

"Oh baby girl, I love you so much. I'm just glad you're too young to remember this." Sam said quietly, getting up to his feet.

He picked Gracie up, who now was squealing with joy and walked over to the group.

"I have room at my house for you, Gracie and Dean to stay." Granny Leslie told him.

"That's ok, I'll look for a motel room" Dean replied, feeling uncomfortable with staying at her house.

"Nonsense I wouldn't have it any other way. You're staying in my house." Leslie insisted.

"That's a good idea and Dean appreciates it." Sam assured her.

After a few minutes of planning, everyone left the hospital, except of Jessica's parents, who were staying to start making arrangements. Sam sat in the back seat with Gracie, who was getting fussy and cranky, but soon fell a sleep, once Sam fed her the bottle Melinda handed him, before leaving the hospital.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: the characters and supernatural don't belong to me they belong to kripke and the cw**

**a/n: thank you all so much for reading this story and reviewing. Without you all this story wouldn't be possible**

**a/n: the lullaby Sam sings to Gracie is by a singer name jewel**

**BETA: the wonderful vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

The half hour ride to Leslie house was silent and tense for everyone, except Gracie, who was in the back seat with Sam, secured in a car seat that Melinda installed, before leaving the hospital, making happy noises, after finishing drinking her bottle and having a short nap

"Da-da!" She squealed pointing out the window, trying to get Sam to attention to some people walking their pets, oblivious to the tragedy that had befallen their family.

Sam, on the other hand wasn't paying attention to Gracie, instead he was looking out the window, his body, which usually was in constant motion, way too still. However, who could blame him? The life he created for himself had come crashing down in one single night.

A few minutes later, they all arrive at Leslie's house, Sam instantly unbuckled Gracie and picking her up, bolted into the house, locking himself and his daughter in one of the guest bedroom, while a worried Dean stayed behind to make some phone calls.

"Hey dad it's me, Dean, listen you need to pick up, it's really important. God dammit dad, the demon that killed mom, just killed Sam fiancee Jessica last night or this morning, whatever and Sam isn't taking it too well. Call back, when you get this message!" He demanded, hanging up the phone and going on to call several other people they knew and were close to.

OOOOOO

**Meanwhile in the guest bedroom **

Gracie was standing up in the crib crying and fussy, until Sam walked over and picked her up, gently speaking to her. "Hey Gracie you want daddy to sing you the lullaby mommy always sings to you, when you're upset?" He asked, not really expecting a response for her.

He repositioned her in his arms then quietly started to sing.

All through the night, I'll be watching over you

And all through the night, I'll be standing over you

And through bad dreams, I'll be right there baby

Telling you everything's going to be alright

When you cry, I'll be there baby

Telling you were never nothing less that beautiful

So don't you worry

I'm your angel standing by.

"That's a beautiful lullaby." Melinda was standing in the doorway.

"Sheesh Melinda, you scared the crap out of me!" Sam replied, walking over to the crib and placing a now sleeping Gracie into it.

"Sorry!" She said, looking at the clock which showed 10:45, realizing a lot had happened in a few short hours.

"How did you get in here? I'm sure I locked it." He wondered.

"I have a lock pick kit ever since I am became a hunter" The young woman retorted.

"Oh..." Was Sam's only response.

"Sam, I need to talk to you!" Melinda said, walking over to the bed and sitting down on it.

"What about?" He asked.

"Jessica told Leslie to hold on to this until Gracie is older, but she and I think its best, if we give it to her now." She told him, taking out a box and handing it over to Sam.

"What's inside?" Sam queried curiously.

"Its a locket Jessica and Leslie bought a while back." The young woman replied.

Sam opened the box and looked at the content, a gold locket engraved with a flower and a humming bird and his daughter name on the outside. Carefully picking it up, he opened it, unable to hold the tears back at what was engraved there.

Angels always watch and protect you, Gracie,

And so are mommy and daddy,

We will always be there for you!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

On the other side was a picture of the three of them.

"Also, Leslie gave me this protection necklace for her; it will help protect her from anything that might wanna harm her." Melinda explained.

"T…thanks, M...Melinda." Sam was trying to keep his emotions in check

"Sam it's nothing, we would do anything to protect that little one and we won't let anything harm her." She assured him, pointing to the crib

"Yeah, I know!" The young father answered.

"Why don't you get some sleep? You look tired." Melinda suggested, looking at Sam, who looked like he was ready to pass out.

"I don't know, if I can, but I'll try" He said

Once Sam had taken his shoes off, he crawled in the bed, while Melinda left the room after checking on Gracie. Surprisingly sleep overtook him easily, but soon he was plagued by nightmares.

Standing in front of him was Jessica, asking him, "So how do I look?" Her hair curled and flowing down to her shoulders, she was dressed in a sleek black dress that reached the floor and trailed over behind her.

Speechless, he was in awe, as he looked at his fiancee

"You...look...amazing!" He finally said.

"Thank you!" She replied, kissing him tenderly on the lips. "Can you help?" she asked, holding up a diamond necklace. He took it from her hands and she turned around and held up her hair, while he hooked the clasp on to the chain. Turning back, she said "So you gonna tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"Why Sam? Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you protect me? Why did you leave me there to die?"

"I…I don't know, I don't know, I DON'T KNOW! Sam screamed.

The scene changed to the night of the fire. Sam bolted up in the bed, looking around to see where he was. Seeing the clock, which showed 1:30 PM, he got up and walked over to the crib to see, if Gracie was still asleep. Yet what he saw made him start to panic. The crib was empty. Immediately worried, he suddenly heard squealing and laughter out in the hall. Walking over to the door, he opened it, watching the scene enfolding before him with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face.

"Gracie get back here and finish your bath!" a soaking wet Melinda ordered, running after a bare naked Gracie.

"Whoa, why is the little one running around the house without clothes on?" Dean asked, walking to where the chaos was going on.

"Gracie, baby, come here to daddy!" Sam coached, trying to get his daughter attention.

"Dada!" Gracie squealed happily, running over to Sam.

"Ok, baby, time for your bath!" Sam laughed. Picking her up and walking into the bathroom, he discovered the mess of water on the floor.

"Sam, I can give her a bath, why don't you go back to sleep?" Melinda said.

"It's okay, I can give her it to her." He replied, putting the squealing toddler back into the tub

"Ok, I'll leave you to it then." She said, walking out the bathroom.

"Ok, baby let me clean you up. I see you made Melinda run after you!" Sam smiled at his daughter, who was splashing water in the tub and laughing when Sam was hit with some of it.

"Oh you think this is funny then let's see, if you'll laugh at this!" Sam teased, splashing some water at Gracie, who squealed even more now.

Just then, Dean walked in. Seeing his brother playing around with his daughter, he hated to interrupt the father-daughter moment.

"Hey Sam, I called dad." He informed, getting Sam attention.

"Yeah what did he say?" The younger brother asked, grabbing Gracie out of the tub with a Winnie-The-Pooh towel.

"He didn't pick up, so I left a message." Dean replied.

"Well, that's obvious!" Sam retorted.

Dean was bothered by the way his brother said it, but decided not to say anything.

"I also called Bobby, but he said he couldn't make it. He pays his condolences though, he is on a hunt in Oklahoma, hunting a water spirit with Caleb, Bill Harvelle, Joshua and Paul Russel."

"Oh, it's ok." Sam replied, drying Gracie hair with the towel.

"And I called Ellen too, she said she can't make it either and that she is sorry for your loss and can't wait to meet Gracie. Right now she is swamped at the roadhouse and helping Jo take care of 2 year old Ian, who is not feeling too well.

"Wait, Jo has a kid? By who…?" Sam asked, remembering the last time he spoke to her, which was right before he left for Stanford.

"Yeah, he was born July 4th, 2003, the father is Paul." Dean answered.

"Oh yeah, I remember him. What about Pastor Jim?" Finally finished with drying off Gracie, he gave her a loving slap and said, "There, all done baby!" Watching her running up to Dean, she looked at him with her puppy dog eyes.

"He said he'll be here in two days. Hey what I do?" Dean wondered when Gracie looked away from him.

"Nothing, its her way of trying to figure out who you are." Sam explained.

"Oh!"

Sam picked his little girl up and walked over to him, holding her, as she pointed at her uncle.

"Gracie this is Dean. Can you say Dean?" he asked her.

"De…" she tried, still pointing at the older man, before clapping her hands and spreading her arms out

"Well its close to my name." Dean replied with a smile.

"I see, she wants you to hold her." Sam clarified Gracie's gesture.

"Are you sure she wants me to hold her?" Dean asked unsure.

"Yep!"

"Ok, come here Gracie." Dean took his niece from his brother.

"Hi, I'm your uncle and when you get older you will learn more about me. Hey, please don't pull on this" He protested, when the toddler started pulling on his amulet. Distressed by his scolding, she started crying and he hurried to give her back to Sam.

"I see it's going to take some time for her to get to know you." Sam stated, just then. Mrs. Moore appeared in the bathroom

"Awe, here is my granddaughter." Kate said.

"Hi Mrs. Moore" Sam greeted her.

"Oh Sam, good to see you, Peter and I want to talk to you in the living room."She advised him, handing Gracie off to Melinda, who also appeared in the bathroom.

"I think, we should all get out of the here, it's getting too crowded." Melinda suggested, walking with Gracie to the little playpen in the living room and putting her in it, while everyone else sat down on the couch.

"Ok, umm Sam the reason we need to talk to you is that we promised Jessica that Gracie can stay with you. It is alright with us, but we would love to be apart of her life." Kate wiped her eyes with a tissue as she explained.

"Sure, I wouldn't have it any other way." Sam replied, looking at his daughter playing with a Elmo toy.

"Peter and I went to pick out a stone for Jessica after we left the hospital." She went on, continuing to wipe her eyes, as more tears flowed from them.

"Oh…" Sam replied tonelessly.

"And the hospital gave us this…" Peter handed him Jessica's engagement ring, as his wife lost the last of her composure and started to sob.

"Its Jess ring, I gave her when I proposed to her." Sam looked at it, as he got up and left the room. Walking back to the bedroom, he sat on the bed and he started crying for all he'd lost and for what he'd still had left.

After a few minutes later Melinda walked into the room and sat down next to him, trying to console him.

"Sam, we will find this demon and make him pay for killing Jessica, but you need to pull yourself together. You have a daughter to think about, she needs you now more then ever." She said.

"How can I move on, when Jessica was my whole world?" He asked in despair, drying his eyes with a tissue she handed him.

"It will be hard at first, but you'll have to move on eventually, so you can give Gracie a good childhood without her mother. And you won't be alone; she will have many people around that love and care about her." She reminded him gently.

"Melinda, thanks for being here for us!" Sam said gratefully.

"Hey, that's what I'm here for, we are all crazy about that daughter of yours!" Melinda smiled.

A few minutes after helping Sam calm down, both left the room and went back to join the others. Gracie now was playing on the carpet with Kate and watching them made Sam realize, there was no way he ever wanted Gracie to know about or get involve in hunting.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I don't own supernatural or the characters or Sam and Dean they belong to kripke and the cw**

**a/n: I would like to say thank you to all the people who read, review, or put this story on alert without you all this story wouldn't be possible**

**BETA: the wonderful Vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

As day turned into evening and finally into night, everyone headed off to bed and it didn't take long until sleep had claimed all the resident of the house, well all except Sam, who was having trouble sleeping. Getting out of bed and pulling a chair up to the crib, he sat down to it keeping an eye on his daughter.

"Gracie I'm going to give you a better life then this. I want you to grow up being safe." He promised, while watching his daughter sleep.

Just then the door opened.

"Sam. you still up, its late shouldn't you be sleeping?" Melinda asked, walking over to the crib

"I can't sleep and I'm worried about Gracie. I feel like, if I sleep, something could happen to her" Sam replied.

"Sam, nothing will happen to her. This house is protected and besides, we wouldn't let anything happen to her. So why don't you go to sleep and I'll keep an eye on her" She assured him.

"Ok, but if she wakes up, get me!" Sam said, getting into the bed and laying down. It took only a few minutes for sleep overcomes him, yet once again nightmares haunted him. When he finally bolted up, the sun light was hitting his face. Looking around, he saw Melinda sleeping in the chair and Gracie making noises in the crib.

Getting up, he walked over to her, "Hey baby, did you sleep well?" he asked, picking her up and looking at the clock that was showing 10 AM.

"Hey sorry I fell asleep, but as you're up, let me go see what Leslie made for breakfast." Melinda said, already walking out the room.

Once she was gone, Sam sat down on the bed and looked his daughter in the eyes.

"Gracie, mommy loved you so much. I swear I will find the thing that took her, so it won't harm you or anyone else ever again!" Sam said, wiping the tears from his face.

"Dada…" Gracie babbled with a sad face.

"Yeah, Dada…" Sam smiled at his daughter, as he heard the sound of the doorbell. A few minutes later Dean entered the room along with Melinda, who took Gracie from him.

"Sammy some detectives are in the living room. They want to talk to you about what happened the night of the fire." The older brother informed him, hating the cops for coming here to stir things up for his little brother again.

"Oh, alright!" was Sam's only response, as he walked away and into the living room where the two officers are waiting for him.

"Hi Sam, I'm Detective Daniels and this here is Detective Barnes. We need to ask you a few questions about the fire."

"Hi." Sam greeted them, sitting down on the couch.

"Ok Sam, we need you to please tell us what happened in your apartment the night of the fire."

Sam cleared his throat and responded, "There was a fire, and Jess…Jess didn't make it out."

"How did you get out of your apartment?" Detective Daniels asked.

"My brother pulled me out."

"Why didn't he pull your fiancée out too?"

"She was on fire," He whispered, as tears spilled from his eyes.

"We understand that you had left your apartment early on the morning of the first with a man in a dark car."

"What does that have to do with the fire?" He asked in a low voice

"Please just answer the question, Sam."

Sam took a deep breath and looked up at the two, "Dean and I went to Jericho."

"Dean's your brother, correct?"

Sam nodded.

"Why did you two go to Jericho?"

"He told me Dad had gone down there and he needed help to bring him home."

"Why would your brother need help bringing your Dad home?"

Sam sighed, "Because Dad is…difficult when he's been drinking."

"Had he been drinking when you found him, Sam?"

"We didn't find him; he wasn't where we expected him to be." Sam looked back down to the floor.

Barnes flipped through the folder. "So to recap, your brother Dean came to you for help in bringing your Dad home, you and Dean didn't find him though and not long after you arrived back at your apartment it went up in flames and your fiancée Jessica died in the fire, while Dean just happened to pull you out in time."

Sam didn't say anything or even look at them; instead he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Where was your daughter in all this chaos?" Detective Daniels asked.

"She was with me!" Melinda spoke up, as she walked into the room and placed a sleeping Gracie, whose face showed traces of the food she'd just eaten, in the playpen

"So what happened that night?" Detective Barnes repeated the question to her.

"Everything was fine, until Gracie started crying and wouldn't calm down. So my cousin told me to take her out for a walk around the neighborhood, while she went and took a shower."

"So when you came back home, you saw the chaos and fire?" Detective Barnes asked.

"Yes" She answered truthfully.

"We believe you. We talked to Jessica, before anyone was able talk to her." The detective said.

"What did she say?" Sam asked, curious as to what Jess told them.

"She said there was a man in the apartment and that he had strangely colored eyes. She also said, she felt intense pain and then she saw you and the man put her on fire." The officer answered.

"What I don't get is why your brother came back to the apartment?" Barnes wondered.

"I bought a teddy bear for my niece, when we were away and I forgot to give it to Sam to give it to her." Dean responded.

"Can we see this bear, so we can be sure you are telling the truth?" The detective asked.

"Sure let me go and get it." The oldest Winchester left the room.

A few minutes later, he walked back in holding a teddy bear dressed in clothes and shoes, holding flowers in its paws.

"Here it is!" Dean showed the cops the stuffed bear.

"Oh what a nice bear." Detective Barnes let out

"Are we finished here?" Sam asked.

"Yes, if we need any further information, we know where to find you!" Both detectives stated, taking there leave.

Once they were gone, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Phew, they sure were asking a lot of questions." Melinda said, walking over to the playpen and picking up Gracie, who was looking up at her with a messy face.

"Yeah, I know." Sam said thoughtfully, taking Gracie out of her arms and walking down the hall to the bathroom.

"Hey baby I see you got food all over your face" He laughed, looking at his daughter smiling at him the same way Jess used to smile at him the day they found out she was pregnant with Gracie and Matthew.

"So Sam you're probably wondering about the bear." Dean said, distracting Sam from his thoughts

"Yeah, if it wasn't for that bear, I wouldn't be here now." Sam said, turning on the faucet so he could wash Gracie.

"I bought it at that gas station, where we stopped when we got in town." Dean told him, watching his brother giving his niece a bath.

"Thanks for buying it for her, she will love it." He said.

"Sam some guy is on the phone about an interview you were supposed to attend yesterday." Melinda stuck her head through the door.

"Oh yeah, ummm can you finish giving her a bath, while I go talk to him?" The younger man asked.

"Sure I would love to!" Melinda replied, taking over Sam place, as he walked out.

Once in the kitchen, Sam picked up the receiver from the table and saying, "Hello Mr. Spencer."

"_Hello Mr. Winchester, we were worried about you, when you didn't show up for your interview and then today we found out what happened."_

"I'm sorry, I was going to call you, but I had so many other things on my mind."

"_Its okay, we understand. We all are sorry for your loss."_

"Thank you, Sir! May I ask why you are calling?" Sam wondered

"_I was calling to ask, if you would like to reschedule the interview once things have settled?" _

"I have to think about it, maybe down the road I might want to, just not right now. I have my daughter to worry about and need piece my life back together." Sam replied.

"_Okay, but the door will always be open. By the way, are you planning on coming back?" Mr. Spencer_ asked.

"For right now all I want is to take the rest of the year off and worry about things more important."

"_Okay, like I said the door will stay open. You are welcome to come back, when the time is right for you. Good bye, Mr. Winchester." _

"Thanks!" Sam replied, putting the receiver back on the wall base and walking out the kitchen, just as Gracie came running up to him, falling down instead starting to cry.

Picking her up, he tried to calm her, "Awe baby, you're okay that carpet is a meany for making you fall."

"Momma, momma" Gracie cried, trying to wiggle out of Sam arms.

Putting her down, she started running down the hall with Sam on her tail, trying to figure out what his daughter was doing. Once he caught on it made him incredibly sad, though. Gracie was looking for Jessica.

"Momma!" She cried again, trying to open a closed door.

"Baby come here!" Sam called out, finally getting Gracie attention.

"Dada!" Gracie pointed to the door.

Picking her up, he walked back to the guest bedroom and gently placed her on the bed.

"Baby I know this is hard for you and you won't understand, what I'm saying, but mommy isn't here anymore, she went to be with the angels." Sam explained, trying to hold back tears, while trying to tell his one year old daughter that she would never see her mother again.


	16. funeral

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or supernatural they belong to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my own characters**

**a/n: the song is from brad paisley-When I get where I'm going it doesn't belong to me**

**a/n: since this is AU some hunts they go on will be added people or they don't do the hunt some other hunters do it**

**a/n: thank you all for sticking with me and this story by reading, reviewing or alerting it**

**BETA: the wonderful Vonnie836**

OOOOOOOOOO

**November 9th, 2005 **

They held the funeral on a gorgeous sunlit November day. The casket was glossy and topped with two framed pictures. One of it was of Jessica and the second was a family picture of Sam, Jessica and little Gracie from a happier time, before this whole mess happened. Rows of white folding chairs were set up on the green grass of the cemetery. Jessica would be buried right next to her grandfather, who died a year before Gracie was born. They only held a graveside service for Jess, as due to sever burns to her body, a viewing wouldn't have been appropriate.

Upon arriving at the cemetery everyone was in a somber mood, except Gracie who kept on squealing with joy and running around, first chasing after a squirrel then a bird, while Melinda tried to keep up with her. Friends, of both Jessica and Sam, were also joining them to show their support in this tragic time. So was Pastor Jim, who as soon as he saw the family arrive, went and greeted Sam.

"Sam, I'm so sorry for what happened!" He said.

"Thanks Pastor Jim and thanks for coming." Sam replied.

"I see this is the little one." Jim looked at Gracie running around with Melinda right behind her.

"Yep that's her, full of energy" Sam replied, watching his daughter running around a tree laughing, oblivious to what's going on.

"Listen I know this is a difficult time, but me and everyone here are going to help you and your daughter." Jim assured him.

"I know and I'm grateful for that." Sam said, walking over to the coffin.

Dean stood off to the side, feeling too uncomfortable in his suit and even more so with the whole situation. All he knew of Jess was that she was about to be married to his brother and that she gave birth to his niece. He was appalled with himself that this was the only thing he knew of the girl his little brother loved enough to start a family with and planned to spend the rest of his live with.

Sam was polite, smiled and gave firm handshakes. People patted him on the back and fed him platitudes and sympathetic faces. But no one really knew what to say, apart from "Thank God Gracie is still alive." or "Tragic accident." or maybe "I hope you can live past this and move on." These were the phrases he heard over and over again throughout the day. These and many others like them.

As soon as the priest started talking, everyone took their seat and was quiet, while he was holding the service and a short sermon. Before finishing, he asked Melinda to come up and say a few words. Jess' parents had asked Sam to do it, but he had declined, knowing it would be too difficult for him.

"What can I say about my cousin?" She started, "She was a woman, who enjoyed life and she loved her daughter and her fiance. Jess was looking forward to getting married this summer. Now she won't be able to nor will she be around to see her daughter grow up and be the lady Jess always envision her to be." She wiped the tears trickling down her face away, "She loved music, one of her favorite country singers was Brad Paisley. So I thought it would be fitting to play a song she especially liked."

She walked over to the CD player and pushed a few buttons. Soon the music started playing.

When I get where I'm going  
on the far side of the sky.  
The first thing that I'm gonna do  
Is spread my wings and fly.

I'm gonna land beside a lion,  
and run my fingers through his mane.  
Or I might find out what it's like  
To ride a drop of rain

Yeah when I get where I'm going,  
there'll be only happy tears.  
I will shed the sins and struggles;  
I have carried all these years.  
And I'll leave my heart wide open;  
I will love and have no fear.  
Yeah when I get where I'm going,  
Don't cry for me down here.

I'm gonna walk with my granddaddy,  
and he'll match me step for step,  
and I'll tell him how I missed him,  
every minute since he left.  
Then I'll hug his neck.

So much pain and so much darkness,  
in this world we stumble through.  
All these questions, I can't answer,  
so much work to do.

But when I get where I'm going,  
and I see my Maker's face.  
I'll stand forever in the light  
of His amazing grace.  
Yeah when I get where I'm going,

Yeah when I get where I'm going,  
there'll be only happy tears.  
Hallelujah!

I will love and have no fear.  
When I get where I'm going.  
Yeah when I get where I'm going.

After the song finished playing, many of the people who were there were in tears and so was Sam and Jess parents.

"Thank you all for being here and for knowing Jessica, she loved you all." Melinda finished, walking back to her seat. The priest came back up then to finish the service. In the end the song was played again, as the coffin was lowered into the ground and everyone walked up to place flowers and other things into the grave.

Sam stood up, holding Gracie in one arm and flowers in his other, he walk towards the grave that now held Jess' coffin. Dean stood at the same time, following his brother to offer his support. Hearing the familiar steps beside him, Sam looked over and knowing before he saw him that it was his brother, who was standing beside him, their shoulders touching.

The sounds of Jess' mother sobbing tore through his heart. Dean tucked at his sleeve; it was over time to go, now. Everyone else was walking away, getting on with life.

Sam needed a minute alone with her. He knew Dean understood, because he walked over to Pastor Jim. Putting Gracie down, he watched as she stood there, holding on to the flowers. He slipped his hand inside his coat pocket, fingering the diamond ring, he proposed to Jessica with; he pulled it out and dropped it onto the coffin. She wouldn't need it, but it belonged to her. He would hold on to his ring, until he gave the demon what it deserved.

"I promised you, I would move on so in order to do that I have to leave this with you." Sam whispered, wiping his face to dry his tears, before turning to his daughter

"Gracie you can throw your flowers right in here now." He told his daughter.

"Good job baby, now go with Cousin Melinda" He continued after she completed the task, watching her toddle over to her.

"Hey Sam, I'm sorry about Jessica." Becky stepped up to him, "I just want you to know, you will always be welcome at Zach and my place. We want to be part of Gracie life and watch her grow up."

"Thanks that would be great and thanks for being here for us." Sam replied, hugging her.

"Hey, we are your friends that will never change. And by the way, what are you doing for Thanksgiving?" She asked.

"Ummm... Dean, me and Gracie are planning to spend it with my uncle." Sam replied, talking about Bobby who the brothers grew up calling uncle, since they've been little. His two kids were just as close to them as he was.

"Oh, I'm glad you have family to go to." Becky said, visibly relieved, "I have to go now, but we'll stay in touch." She added before turning and walking away.

After everyone left only the brothers, Gracie, Jess' parents, grandmother and two cousins were left. Talking to the priest for a little while, they also left. It was time try and move on with their lives, yet each of them knew, it would not be as easy as it sounded. The wounds went deep and only time could heal them.

**Author's note: I hope I did my math right. Sam left to school in 2001**

**and thank you all for reading this story**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: sadly I don't own Sam or dean or any other characters nor do I own supernatural. They belong to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my own characters**

**a/n: I would like to thank everyone who is reading this story without you all this story wouldn't be possible**

**BETA; the wonderful Vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOO**

Two days after the funeral Jess' parents flew back to Australia, where they lived at the moment. Another two days later Sam and Dean packing in preparation to leave also. Melinda walked into Sam's bedroom, seeing him sitting on the bed, rocking Gracie to sleep and singing the same lullaby, he sang the day they came here.

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt, but Leslie wants us in the living room to discuss some things." She told him, still standing in the doorway.

"Ok, I'll be there in a minute." The young father replied.

"I'll tell her." Melinda turned and went back to the living room, where she found Dean sitting on the couch.

A few seconds later Sam walked in with a sleeping Gracie in his arms, carefully placing her in the play pen. Letting her sleep in the bedroom would have meant to leave her out of his sight and that was one thing he wasn't able to do lately.

"Ok, the reason I called all of you here, is to discuss what is going to happen now," Leslie explained to the group.

"So what is going to happen, granny?" Melinda asked.

"First I want to know, how you two know about this demon and how you became to be hunters!" The older lady questioned.

"It's a long story, so I better get started." Dean replied, starting to tell her and the others about the fire and the way they grew up

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry about what happened to your mother." Leslie was visible shaken by their story.

"It's in the past now, we don't like dwelling on it!" Dean stated he didn't like talking about that tragic night, when he was four years old and didn't want to get further into it.

"The other reason, why we needed to talk, is that we think Melinda should travel with you guys, so she can help you guys hunt and help take care of Gracie. Its going to be difficult to take care of her while hunting Sam."

"I don't know, but if you think it would help I'm ok with it. What do you think Dean?" Sam looked at his brother.

"Sure that would be great, it will help, while we look for dad." Dean hurried to say, readily in agreement with Leslie's idea.

"OK, great then it's settled." Leslie stated.

"So, may I asked you, how you became hunters and how you became involved with this demon?" Dean couldn't help his curiosity.

It was Melinda, who took up the task to answer his question, as she started to recount their story.

OOOOOOOOOO

**December 31****st****, 1997, the night before New Years**

**Montpelier, Maine**

Outside the snow was thick and deep and people driving by where in a happy mood. The front lawns were still decorated with Christmas lights and ornaments. Inside a girl was sitting on the couch watching TV, when a woman, most likely her mother, came down the stairs and into the living room.

"Ok Melinda, your father and I will go to the Smith' house for a party, I expect you two to be good for Grandma June, you hear me?" Janice, her mother explained.

"Yeah, yeah, we will and Julie will be in bed once the clock hits 12:01 AM." An 18 year old Melinda said absentmindedly, while watching TV.

"If Ethan wakes up, feed him his bottle and put him back to sleep. Are you hearing me Melinda?" Janice questioned slightly irritated.

"Yes, I heard you, like all the other times before." Melinda responded, never taking her eyes off the music videos showing on MTV.

"And tomorrow we are buying him a cake for his 6 month birthday, so don't make any plans." She demanded.

"Oh come on, do we have to? Why?" Melinda whined.

"Yes we have to; he made it to 6 months, although the doctor said his heart problem might affect him enough to not get there." Her mother replied.

"Yeah, you've got a point!" Melinda stated, realizing why her mom would want to celebrate this special event.

Ethan was born with a heart defect, which his doctors said was difficult to treat and that there was a chance he might not reach his 1st birthday, because to this problem. So far he was doing fine, but they were warned that Ethan couldn't withstand too much stress on his heart.

Just then ten year old Julie ran into the living room in her pajamas, a teddy bear in her arm.

"Can I go? Please mama, please!" she begged.

"I told you five times already, no. End of discussion, this is an adult party." Mrs. Johnson replied in a voice that left no doubt she was serious.

"Scott, hurry up already, we're going to be late. My brother Peter and his wife Kate are going to be there, so let's get a move on." She yelled upstairs.

"Mom, if Aunt Kate and Uncle Peter going to the party, then who is Jessica staying with?" Melinda wondered, talking about her 13 year old cousin Jessica Moore.

"She probably is staying with friends or by herself" Janice answered, inspecting herself in the mirror.

Just then her husband and Grandma June came down the stairs.

"Lets hit the road or we will be even later." Scott said, "Mom, if anything would happen, the number for emergency is on the fridge and so is the number of the Smith' house, just in case." He explained, turning to his mother.

"Everything will be okay, just go and have fun!" June smiled, pushing them out the door.

"Will do, you have fun with the kids." Her son responded.

June had lost her husband two years ago and came to live with her son and his family, so she wouldn't be lonely. She was 78 years and in top fit shape for her age. She also adored her four grandkids.

"Okay, what will we do for the next 3 hours before New Year?" She wondered.

"Oh, I know, let's make some popcorn and watch TV until the ball drops." Julie suggested, already walking into the kitchen.

A few hours later, after the ball fell and everyone was full of popcorn and candy, it was time for Julie to go to sleep. Walking up the dark stairs, the little girl saw a figure standing in the hallway, the only thing visible glowing yellow eyes. Frightened, she ran back downstairs and woke her sister up.

"Melinda wake up, there is a strange man upstairs." The scared ten year old screamed.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Her sister asked, once she was awake enough notice Julie was shaking and nearly in tears.

"Someone is upstairs. He is scary, please, come check." She begged.

"Oh alright, let's go and check." Melinda got off the couch up the stairs and went upstairs, her sister close behind her.

Once there, she saw the man entering her brother room. Spooked herself, she took Julie's hand and dragged her down the stairs to their grandma's room

"Grandma, there is someone in the house, he is in Ethan room" Both of them said at the same time.

"Let me go, check it out!" June said, getting out of bed and putting her slippers on.

"No grandma, call someone, don't go upstairs!" Melinda tried to hold her back.

"Girls, I'll be okay, it's probably just your imagination." June calmed her granddaughter.

The girls waited for several minutes, finally worry overcame fear and they followed their grandmother upstairs to Ethan's room.

Their grandma was standing in front of the crib, "See girls, nothing to worry..." Before she could finish her sentence, June was dragged up the wall and onto the ceiling by some invisible force

"NOOOOOOOOOO, GRANDMA…" Both of the girls screamed, as they saw the man with yellow eyes.

"Let her go, LET HER GO!" Melinda ordered, just before their grandma burst into flames in front of their eyes and the door slammed closed.

"NOOOO, ETHAN, GRANDMA!" Melinda desperately tried to open the door, shaking the knob and throwing herself against it. Suddenly it burst open, flames shooting out of the room

"Julie run, now, let's go!" She screamed at her sister.

Once outside, everything burst into flames. Neighbors, alerted by the screaming and the flames, started to crowd around and soon after an ambulance and fire trucks appeared.

"Melinda, Julie are you two okay?" One of the neighbors asked.

"No, grandma and Ethan didn't make it out!" Melinda replied, wiping her eyes with her sleeve, while comforting her crying little sister.

"Where are your parents, sweetie?" Mrs. Jones.

"They went to a party at the Smith' house" She said, as she watched her childhood home going up in flames.

"I'm going to call them, wait right here." The concerned neighbor said, walking away, just to reappear only a couple minutes later, "They are on their way and will be here in a few minutes." She explained.

When the girl's parents arrived, they saw their daughters sitting on the back of the ambulance, comforting each other.

"Mel, Julie, what happened, where are Ethan and your grandma? Oh god, where are they? Please, tell me!" Janice screamed at the sight of the house in flames.

"There was a man, he…he killed grandma and Baby Ethan. Julie and I both saw him."

"NOOOO, you're lying, Ethan is safe, he is in one of these ambulances. Why are you doing this to me?" Janice insisted.

Scott, who had immediately ran towards the house and been stopped by one of the firefighters, now walked back to his wife. Wrapping his arms around her, he whispered something into her ear, catching her, when she broke down crying.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO, THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING, MY BABY BOY… " She screamed out, collapsing onto the ground sobbing, while Scott comforted her.

OOOOOOOOOO **End of flashback** OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"After the fire burned down and they checked the damage, they couldn't find the man Julie and I saw that night and the police was dumbfounded, because they couldn't find any clues of what happened either.

"Wait a minute; dad said there was another nursery fire in Maine in 98." Sam remembered.

"Yeah, you're right, he did." Dean agreed.

"I remember a man and his two sons at my brother and grandma funeral, the oldest was asking me some questions. Holy crap, it was you two that day!" Mel was shocked to discover she had met the Winchesters before.

"Wow, what a strange coincidence!" Julie added her own comment, "Then you probably saw Jessica also, but could be you missed her with all the people that were at the funeral."

"No he didn't, I saw him talking to her after the burial and they seemed to have fun." Leslie threw in.

"That was Jessica? Wow, so it's true what people say, true love will find you anywhere." Dean smiled in surprise.

"That is a strange coincidence, it's no wonder, we both got along so well." Sam said thoughtfully.

"But how did you get into hunting Mel and what happened to your parents? I never met them and you've never talked about them either." Sam wondered.

"Oh yeah ummm... four months after the tragedy, my parents and I were in a car accident on our way to pick up Julie from a friends birthday party. A truck crashed into us. I stayed awake long enough to see a man walk with really black eyes walk up to us. He screamed and black smoke escaped through his mouth and that was, when I blacked out. Soon after I woke up in the hospital and I was told my parents didn't survive."

"I'm sorry Mel" Sam expressed his regret.

"Its okay, a few days later I told Leslie about it and she came out and told me about the supernatural world and how she used to be a hunter. After I was released from the hospital and after the funeral Julie and I moved to California with her. I started to train and learn more about being a hunter. After that I began looking for the yellow eyed demon and the demon that killed my parents."

"Did you find him?" Dean asked.

"No, not yet, but ever since then I've been tracking down nursery fires, hoping to find this demon" She replied.

"Well, I think we're done here, so I'm going to go make dinner. Are you leaving today yet?" Leslie asked, standing up.

"No, not until tomorrow, but we are going back to the apartment to see, if we can find anything else." Sam answered her question.

"Ok, by the time you come back dinner will be ready. We will watch Gracie, so you don't have to take her." Melinda offered

"Thanks" Sam got up and followed Dean out to the car.

When they arrived at the apartment, a fire inspector was there, looking around and so was a marshal, warning them not to go anywhere that was taped off, as the burned timbers could still collapse. Dean gave the man an insincere smile and promise, while Sam ignored them both and started wandering through the remainders of his life.

The living room wasn't too bad; the firefighters had gotten there before the fire could spread from the bedroom and destroy everything. Some of the books were probably still salvageable and his bag sat waterlogged but otherwise untouched, where he'd dropped it that night, sheltered by the couch. But Sam only had eyes for the picture on the floor beside the blackened TV, its glass was nearly pulverized, the edges water stained, yet the middle intact. He brushed the glass off and teased it out of its frame, slipping it into his back pocket.

"You, Jess and Gracie?" Dean wondered from behind him.

"Yeah it was taken at the beach a few month ago." He said quietly, before he looked over to a shelf that was still intact. Walking over to it he saw the photo album Jess and he made, when Jess first found out she was pregnant with Matthew. Sadly there weren't many pictures of Matthew, since Jessica miscarried him, but it was filled with pictures of Gracie, some of them sad, but more of them happy.

Beyond the living room, the bedroom was just ashes. Sam ducked under the tape and stopped in front of the melted lump that had been their bed. Most of their treasured possessions had been in that room, but nothing was left, nothing at all.

Next they walked into Gracie bedroom and half that room was in ashes also, except some of her things that were in a box, since they were getting ready to move after classes ended in May. He looked through it and found a blanket that was in perfect condition. It used to belong to Jess before she gave it to Gracie. Most of her clothes were fine also, so he put them in the box.

Dean stood by silently, still behind him, a watchful guardian, ready to save him again from that room, if necessary. But while Dean knew a hundred different ways to fight manifested evil, grief left him at a loss. Suddenly feeling encroached upon, Sam half-turned back toward him. "I'm fine. Go look around."

He could sense his brother's hesitation, but finally Dean moved off to pick through the wreckage. He understood burn patterns and fire starters a lot better anyway, despite the one class in forensics Sam had taken during his sophomore year in a fit of sentimentality.

"You ok Sammy?" Dean asked, walking back into the room

"This is what I get for leaving her alone, when she needed me. If I would've been here, I could have protected Jess, protected both of them. Now Gracie will grow up without a mom.

"You'd probably be dead, too," Dean said calmly.

"I don't care," Sam shot back.

Dean settled on the beam beside him. "Yeah well, you might not care, but I do, and from what I saw of her, Jess would've, too. Punishing yourself isn't going to help her."

"You didn't even know her."

Dean shuffled in place, hands hanging between his knees. "So tell me about her."

Sam stared at him, not sure, what to make of this request. Dean raised his eyebrows and stared back, waiting.

It was the first thing that tempted him since it happened, but the thought of talking about Jess still hurt too much. Sam finally shook his head, casting Dean an apologetic look.

Dean didn't seem to take it personally, just nodded then patted him on the knee, as he stood up, "You ready to go back to Leslie's house for food, now?"

"Yeah, just let me get the rest of Gracie stuff and we can leave." Sam said, walking out and reappearing a few minutes later with the box and tears spilling down his face.

Dean pretended not to notice drove off, once everything was loaded into the Impala.

They never saw a man in a trench coat standing in front of the apartment, watching it, before disappearing into thin air.


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: the characters and supernatural sadly still don't belong to me they belong to kripke and the cw**

**a/n:i would like to thank you all for reading and reviewing without you all this story wouldn't be possible. Also if you have questions about this story let me know**

**BETA: the wonderful Vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOO**

The next morning the Winchesters and Melinda got ready to leave for their drive to Bobby's place. The older man had called Dean the day after the funeral and invited them to stay with him for a while and after talking to his brother Dean had agreed.

"Mel I need to talk to you." Leslie said.

"What about, Grandma?" Mel continued to pack the rest of her duffel bag.

"I want you to watch out for them and Gracie and I also want you to give this to Sam. It might be too hard for him to watch, though." The older lady replied, giving her granddaughter the video tape and pictures of Gracie 1st birthday party.

"Granny, you had this all the time? I thought it burned in the fire!" A shocked Melinda exclaimed.

"No, Jess, bless her soul, gave me this after the party, so I could make a picture collage for Sam."

"Oh that would have been sweet for Sam to see, but now it might be too hard for him to watch. I'll give it to him when things settle down." Melinda promised.

Just then her sister walked in and sat down on the bed, looking at them for a moment, before speaking, "So this is it, you'll travel with the Winchesters and help them look for their dad."

"Yep and while I'm gone, you'll finish school and listen to granny or I'll come back here and kick you on the right path."

"Yes mom, are you coming back for the anniversary of Ethan's birthday? Granny and I are going to fly down to Maine in July just like every year.

"I don't know I might not. I have to think about it." Mel answered.

"Mel we got to hit the road, if we want to make it to South Dakota at some point." Sam walked in with Gracie holding his hand and toddling along on wobbly legs.

"I'll be out in a minute." Mel promised, finishing packing.

"Ok, oh and Leslie, thanks for letting us stay here." Sam said

"It was my pleasure, I hope you'll visit, I want to see my great granddaughter more often." Leslie replied, giving Sam a hug and looking down at Gracie. "I hope to see you soon baby, you hear me. Now don't get on daddy nerves. I love you!" She told Gracie, hugging her also.

"Where is Dean?" Mel wondered once she was done with her duffel.

"He is in the car, getting impatient." Sam smiled.

"Ok all done. Granny I'll keep in touch, take care and watch out for Julie." She said, looking with love at her grandmother, who raised her and her sister.

"I will, but I think you should go now, before that brother of Sam's starts honking his horn." Leslie grinned.

"Yeah I should. You know I love both of you, take care." Mel hugged them, before picking up her duffel and walking out.

Sam was waiting by the trunk and after handing him her bag, she climbed in the back seat beside Gracie who was secured in the car seat, she gave Sam the day they left the hospital. Once Sam was in the car also, Dean started the car, beginning their journey to South Dakota.

It took them three days to make it Bobby's house. It was evening when they arrived and saw several other cars parked in the driveway, announcing that there were other people there also. The yard was filled with salvage cars in all states of deterioration and some, which only were broken, waiting for Bobby to fix them. The junk yard owner had become a hunter when his wife died after becoming possessed, nearly killing their eldest son Jared.

Jared was a rebellious kid, who liked to do things his own way and sometimes skipped school. He liked the thrill of hunting and listened to the same kind of music as Dean. He also liked fixing cars and wore a star tattoo on his arm.

His sister Stella was more of a shy kid, always doing what she was told to and sensitive, yet with a creative mind. She liked school, but was also glad when she didn't have to go and she liked to hunt.

After Dean parked and everyone got out of the car the front door sudden opened and a young girl flew out of the house. "Sam! Sam! Is that you?" She yelled out, almost knocking the younger Winchester to the ground.

"Yep, it's me, you got so big since the last time I saw you." Sam replied, seeing her for the first time in over four years.

"Is this your daughter? Awe she is so cute, what's her name?" Stella asked when she saw Gracie.

"Yeah it is her name is Gracie." Sam answered.

"Stella, what did dad say about running out the house when people show up?" Jared was standing on the porch.

"He said not to do it, because you never can be sure, if it's them or a demon." She replied to her brother question.

"Yes because of that and because of your asthma. Hey Sam, hey Dean, get you butts in here. Dad and everyone else want to see ya!" He yelled out, before going back inside.

"You have asthma? I didn't know you had that." Sam said.

"I found out the hard way on a hunt two years ago and nearly died, if dad wouldn't have gotten me to the hospital in time. I'm fine now, I just have to remember to bring my inhaler, when we go on hunts." She replied to Sam question, turning and returning to the house.

When they walked into the house it became clear, who the other cars belonged to, seated in the living room, engrossed in conversation were Caleb, Pastor Jim, Bill and Ellen, Jo with her son Ian and her boyfriend Paul and Joshua.

"Hi, Sam," Ellen said, adding, "this must be Gracie, she is beautiful!" When she saw the toddler in his arms

"Yes, she is!" Sam gently set his daughter down.

As soon as the little girl touched the floor, she hid behind her father, pressing herself against his legs.

"I see she doesn't like strangers." Bobby noted, making his way over to Sam and giving him a hug.

"Not unless I introduce them to her." Sam explained.

"It's good to see you, even though it's not under the best circumstances." The older man said.

"Dada!" Gracie babbled, making Sam looked down to see Jo son standing in front of her eying her curiously.

"Jo, is this your son?" Sam pointed at the little boy.

"Yeah, his name is Ian Michael Harvelle Russell" Jo answered.

"Mommy, lookie, the little girl." Ian said.

"Yeah, the little girl. Baby, leave her alone and come over here to mommy." Jo told her son.

"Ok mommy." Ian walked back to Jo.

"Anyway, what's going on, why is everyone here?" Dean questioned, as he walk into the room

"Nothing, we just came to visit, because Ellen wanted to see Sam daughter, since she knew the two of you since you were kids and Jo wanted to see her childhood best friends." Bill Harvelle, who was sitting on the couch, pitched in.

"Yep I sure did and I also wanted to do this!" Jo said, getting off the couch and punching Sam on the arm.

"Owe, what was that for?" The younger Winchester whined.

"For not calling me to tell me you have a daughter and for not saying goodbye when you left to Stanford." She replied.

"Oh well, then sorry." Sam tried to lighten the mood.

"You're forgiven!"

"Mommy, I don't feel so good." Ian complained.

"Oh dear, mom I think we should go, we have a two hour drive and I want to give Ian his medicine." Jo hurried to pick up her son and shooing her boyfriend out the door.

"Sam, if you need anything please call me and take good care of that little one." Ellen told him, following her husband out of the house.

Suddenly the only ones left were Caleb, Pastor Jim and Joshua.

"Jim, did you hear anything about what's happening out there?" Dean sat down on the couch with a beer in his hand.

"Nope, it's been to quiet. I checked with some of the other hunters, they haven't heard anything either." Jim responded, just when Melinda walked in, making everyone turn to look at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt." She said, feeling a little nervous with people staring at her.

"You must be Melinda. Dean mentioned you, when I called him the other day. So you're also a hunter." Bobby eased the situation.

"Yep I am and he did?" Melinda looked at the eldest Winchester, who was looking at the floor.

"Anyway, I think its time to hit the bed. The little one has the right idea." Caleb smiled, changing the subject.

Everyone look over to the couch, where Gracie was sleeping with a half asleep Sam snuggled up with her.

"Has he been sleeping at all lately?" Bobby asked.

"He gets some sleep, but he's been more concerned with her and that she might disappear." Dean explained, walking over to his brother.

"Sam, wake up!" He coached, shaking his brother gently.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Sam asked sleepily at being disturbed.

"Why don't you take Gracie up to bed and go get some sleep also?" Dean said, looking at his brother

"You can sleep in the first room, Sam. We got Stella's old crib set up in there so Gracie can sleep in it." Bobby informed him.

"Thanks Bobby, I'll see ya in the morning." Sam expressed gratitude, picking up Gracie and taking her upstairs.

A few hours later everyone else decided it was time for them to get some sleep also. Heading to bed, they slept soundly, until the smell of pancakes woke them.


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I sadly still don't own Sam or Dean nor the other characters or supernatural they belong to the awesome kripke and the cw**

**a/n: thanks to everyone who is reading this story you all make me happy**

**BETA: the wonderful and awesome Vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOOOOOO**

The next morning when bobby went to the kitchen to make pancakes, he found Sam in the living room, wearing the same clothes as last night, with Gracie in the play pen sleeping. Walking up to him, he noticed he was staring down on his hands, holding a picture of Jessica.

He didn't even glance up at him, when the older man cleared his throat, "Sam, you okay?" He asked, just when Melinda walked in.

"Bobby, what's wrong?" she asked, wondering what he was looking at. As soon as she noticed, she continued, "Why don't you go make breakfast, I'll sit with Sam."

Once he left, she knelled down at Sam's eye level and spoke to him.

"Sam what's wrong? I know you miss Jessica, but you can't keep scaring me and Dean with these mood swings of yours. Are you a girl?" She added trying to lighten the mood but it was no use.

"Sam, look at me!" Mel ordered him.

Getting the desired response, as he looked up at her, the first thing she noticed were the wet streaks of tears running down his cheeks. The second was that his eyes were red and puffy. Sniffing loudly, he wiped his cheeks and looked away from her.

"Don't look a way from me, that's an order" She said, once again trying to get his attention, but to no avail this time.

With a loud a sigh, she sat down beside him and awkwardly hugged his mammoth frame, biting back tears, when his forehead thudded heavily onto her shoulder and his arms circled her, holding on for dear life. He didn't move for a long time and she didn't let go of him either. Needing to be comforted was something she understood perfectly well. After her parents died Mel had been depressed for 2 months till her grandmother sat down and talked to her. In the end she had broken down crying and soon after started to get better.

When the young man finally pulled away from her, she let it happen, looking at him with a gentle smile, "Oh, Sam, I kinda know what you're going through, yet at the same time I don't know, how you feel. You've got to snap out of it though; you can't let Gracie see you like this. So tell me, what can I do to help?

"Nothing," He said thickly. "It's just…"

"Just what…?" She prodded gently.

"Jess, I…I miss her so much. Everything I see reminds me of her. When I look at Gracie I see Jess in her too."

"Sam, I miss my cousin also but I can't let her death affect me like this, nor should you" She replied.

At that moment Gracie started crying and Mel stood up and walks over to the play pen, picking her up and bringing her back to Sam.

"Here take her and feed her. I don't want to see you moping around anymore. You lost Jess and I lost a cousin, but you still have a gift left and that is your daughter!" She said.

"Thanks, Mel!" Sam answered, before getting up and making his way into the kitchen.

"Hey Sam, you ok?" Bobby looked up at the youngest Winchester, while making breakfast

"Yeah, I'm fine now." Sam said determinedly, sitting Gracie in the high chair and giving her some of the scrambled eggs the hunter had prepared. With a smile he watched her smear it all over her face, before some of it finally in her mouth.

"Hey Sam, I'll watch her. Why don't you go wake up Stella and Jared, they have school in two hours!" Bobby asked.

"Sure, I'll do that." the youngest Winchester replied, getting up and up the stairs. Walking through the hallway, he saw several pictures, he never noticed before.

Some of them were of him and Dean, Bobby's kids and Jo, taken at one time or the other while growing up, some of them actually showing them splashing each other with water on hot summer days. One picture was of Bobby and Karen wedding and a few others were of Jared and Stella with their mother, when they were babies.

Next were pictures of all five of them, when they graduated and several of hunters, they all were close to. In the end he noticed two pictures of someone in army uniform and a picture of a family; he has no memory of ever meeting.

Just then he was interrupted from his thoughts by Stella, "I see you found the pictures of us when we younger. Dad put them up during the summer, when we cleaned out the cellar and the basement so he could build a panic room in case of tornado's.

"Oh hey I came up to wake you and your brother." Sam told her, seeing she was already dressed.

"Yeah well, I have an alarm clock which wakes people up, duh." She replied with a smirk.

"Hey Ella, who is the guy wearing the uniform?" Sam wondered calling her by the nickname he gave her when she was little.

"You don't remember Eric Morgan? We grew up with the Morgan's, until Mark up and left with his kids to Jamaica in 2001 right when you left for Stanford."

"Oh, I remember them, so that's Eric. Where is he now?"

"Sam, didn't you know Eric got shipped off the Iraq after 9/11 happened?"

"No I didn't, no one called me to tell me."

"Eric was in Iraq for 2 years, before he was killed in line of duty in 2003" Stella explained sadly.

"What, no one ever told me!" Sam was clearly upset and shocked by the news.

"Yeah, ummm dad got a call one day from Mark, saying Eric got killed, your brother took it kinda hard, but he tried not to show it."

"I bet he did, Eric and he were best friends, while growing up." Sam replied, looking at another picture of a girl.

"Is that Alisa Morgan?"

"Yep it is that was the last picture dad took, before they left. Also, Alisa did leave a couple letters for you, when she and her dad came back to the States to bury Eric, but I don't remember where I put them. I promise I'll find them."

"She did? I hope you'll find them."

Sam and Alisa used to be together, when they were teenagers. Alisa was a year younger then Sam and they both got along really well, even though they had there ups and downs. Before Sam left, Alisa and he had an argument about him going away for college. She didn't want him to go at all; she just couldn't take it and broke up with him the night before he left. Alisa was his first love, her family were hunters also.

"Hello, earth to Sam, anyone in that head of yours?" Ella asked laughing.

"Oh I'm sorry, I was thinking. Hey are you doing anything after school, we could catch up, like old times" He asked.

"It depends, if Natalie and Sandra need my help with tutoring kids." Stella responded, going downstairs to eat some breakfast.

Once she left Sam saw pictures of Ellen, Bill and Jo, when she was younger. There was also a picture of Paul and Jo with baby Ian and several of Ian at different ages.

"Man we looked strange as kids." Dean stated, walking towards Sam, while trying to avoid staring at Eric's picture.

"Yeah I know it is strange looking at them" He said.

"Anyway, I came up to get you; Bobby wants you downstairs to eat something. You barely ate anything these past days and I'm getting a little worried."

"Fine, I'll eat something." Sam promised, walking downstairs and into the kitchen, getting himself a plate of eggs.

He'd eaten half of it, when Jared walked into the kitchen

"So I see everyone is awake."

"Yeah and I want you home after school to help me fix some cars."

"Come on dad, I have a date with Charlotte to go to the movies, also Steve and his girlfriend will be there and it's Steve last year before he goes to basic training." Jared whined talking about his best friend going into the army.

"You should have told me this earlier, now they just have to plan it for another day" Bobby instructed him.

"Come on dad, just this once, I'll help you fix cars for the rest of the month." The kid pleaded.

"Ok, I'll let you go to the movies, but you have to keep your promise."

"Thanks dad, I will." Jared hurriedly finished up his breakfast, running out, when the bus pulled up in front of the house.

"Bye daddy, bye Sam and Dean, see you after school." Stella yelled, running after her brother.

"Why don't you three go talk, I'll do the dishes" Melinda suggested, shooing them out the kitchen.

"Did she just kicked me out my own kitchen?" Bobby questioned.

"I guess so!" The oldest Winchester affirmed.

A few minutes of awkwardness and silence followed, except of Gracie making noises in the playpen playing with her teddy bear.

"So anyone going to tell me, what's going on? Dean didn't tell me that much on the phone" Bobby wondered.

"Jessica was killed by the same demon that killed mom, when I was a baby." Sam looked down on the floor.

"Boy, this demon shows up to destroy more lives and your daddy is MIA. He won't pick up his phone, I even called some other hunters and they haven't seen him either.

"Yeah I know, we still need to find him."

"So what are you and Sam going to do?" Bobby asked.

"We might look into the coordinates dad left us. We could head out there and see if he is there." Dean responded.

"When will you leave?"

"Tomorrow morning, once we get what we need, we'll take off for Colorado." Dean answered, watching in surprise, how Sam stood up and left the room.

"What happened, was it something I said?" Bobby worried, when the younger man walked out.

"It wasn't you." said Dean assured him, following his brother upstairs.

He found Sam in his room, sitting on the bed. Walking over, he settled down beside his brother

"So, you want to tell me why you walked out?" He asked.

"I want to find dad and the demon, but I don't want to leave Gracie behind" The youngest Winchester retorted.

"Sam, we are only going to be gone for a few days and Gracie is surrounded by a lot of people that will watch her and keep her safe. Sam, you got to stop being overprotective of her. Nothing will happen with us and others around."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Damn straight I'm right, I'm the older brother." Dean grinned, getting up and was about to leave the room when Sam stopped him.

"Dean, I want you to know, once we find dad and kill the demon, I'm getting out of hunting and settling somewhere with Gracie. I don't want her growing up living the same life we had to. I want her to have the childhood, we never got to experience.

"Sam is that a good idea?" Dean asked.

"I've been thinking about this for days and it's what I decided." Sam stood firm.

"Fine, I can't talk you out of it, but I hope you know what your doing." Dean said, leaving the room.

The rest of the day went by slowly, until Stella came home from school soaked to the skin, due to the fact it was raining.

"Hey Ella, I thought you had to stay after school?" Sam looked at the wet girl.

"Nope, they didn't need my help. What's going on, where's my dad?" Ella asked, looking around

"He went into town with Dean and Melinda to get some stuff." Sam answered her question.

"Oh, where is Gracie, I thought I would see her running around the house?"

"She is in the play pen taking a nap after all the running around she did earlier."

"Sam, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?" he

"Why did you leave and didn't call to tell me or Jared?" Ella sat down on a chair in the kitchen.

"I was mad and wasn't thinking straight that night. Alisa broke up with me the night before, so I wasn't in a good mood anyway and then I had that big argument with dad about going to school."

"Sam it hurt when you left, I didn't just loose a best friend I felt like I lost a brother. You were the one I could go to and talk about things that were too hard to tell my dad.

"Ella, I'm sorry, I should have called you, but I did keep in touch with you after I left."

"Yeah you did, but only for the first year you were there then you stopped calling. It hurt me Sam, when you stopped calling. I thought I did something wrong. I got mad about it, until dad told me it was your choice, so I finally got over it, but deep down it still hurt.

"Stella, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, but hunting wasn't for me. I'm glad though, it turned out well for you."

"Yeah it did. Ever since you left I thought one day I would see you again, but not like this"

"I know what you mean, things happen that are not in our control and..." Before Sam could finish, Dean, Bobby and Mel walked into the kitchen with groceries.

"Stella did you do your homework? I need you to clean your room before dinner and get out of those wet clothes." Bobby set his bags down on the kitchen table.

"No dad, I haven't done it yet, but I'll get right to it." She replied, leaving the room

"Sam, I heard from Dean that you two are going to Colorado tomorrow, I think that's a good idea. I'll promise that Gracie will be in good hands." Mel said.

"We will and thanks, I know she will be fine here with you and Bobby." Sam answered.

After the groceries were put away, Mel made dinner and everyone sat down to eat while Sam fed Gracie some mashed potatoes. Like always she managed to get more all over her face then in her mouth. Jared was able to make it home, while dessert was being served, which consisted of pie, Dean's favorite.

"Jared how long did this movie take? It's 6 PM, you have school tomorrow." His father said angrily, getting up from the table.

"We saw the movie and went out to that pizza place down the road from there and then we went to the park to do some of our homework and talk." Jared picked up a plate of pie with ice cream.

"Well, next time call and tell me where you're going to be." Bobby demanded.

"Ok fine, dad."

After the dishes were put in the sink and everyone was stuffed with all the food they ate, they retreated to the living room, except Sam who picked Gracie up and went up to the bathroom to give her a bath.

"Okay, baby let me take the locket off so it won't get wet" Sam removed the locket, but not the protection charm necklace and laid it on top of Gracie pajamas.

"Dada, Dada." Gracie squealed, once she was in the water and started splashing it everywhere, even drenching Sam.

"I think she likes the water too much, she got you all wet, bro" Dean smirked, standing in the door way and watching the commotion.

"Yeah she loves the water." Sam replied, not taking his eyes of his daughter, who was staring up at Dean.

"De, De" She squealed.

"yep, that's my name and don't forget it." Dean smiled at his niece.

"Okay, time to get out of the tub baby and into bed!" The youngest Winchester said, taking his daughter out and drying her off, before putting her PJ's on and putting the locket back on. Standing, he picked Gracie up and walked to the guest bedroom, placing her in the crib. He handed her a sippy cup with warm milk. She fell asleep as soon she finished drinking it she fell asleep

"So you have your bag ready for tomorrow?"

"Yep, it's all packed." Sam looked at his sleeping daughter.

"I recommend you get some sleep, we have a long trip ahead of us." Dean suggested before leaving the room.

Once dean had left, Sam took one last glimpse at Gracie then attempted to get some sleep, but woke up a couple hours later because of yet another nightmare. He just laid there awake, until he heard his brother knocking on the door the next morning.

**Author's note: next chapter begins wendigo but with a few twist and soon someone will call the brothers**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I sadly still don't own the Winchesters or the characters or supernatural they belong to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my own characters**

**a/n: omg I'm in shock I never thought I would get to 200 reviews and I owe it to all you readers out there who is reading and reviewing this story and thank you all**

**BETA: the wonderful and awesome Vonnie836**

**OOOOOOO**

You ready to go?" Dean asked the next morning after eating the hearty breakfast Bobby prepared for them

"Yeah, but let me just finish feeding Gracie, before we leave. My bag is already in the trunk." Sam replied, feeding Gracie scrambled eggs. Once she was done he picked her up and walked over to the sink, setting the plate in it and pouring him self a cup of coffee, which he drank while holding his daughter in his arms.

Melinda and Bobby were waiting for them beside the Impala.

"So Colorado, huh?" Bobby asked, as they walked up

"Yeah, Black Water Creek," Dean replied, putting his duffel bag in the trunk

Bobby nodded and walked back into the house. Sam handed Gracie over to Melinda and kissed his daughter on her head, looking at her before getting in the car

"Bye baby girl, be good for Melinda and uncle bobby." He said, as the Impala pulled out the junkyard.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

(Wendigo)

_Sam stood besides Jessica's grave struggling to not cry and to find adequate words. "I, um…" he attempted at last, "You always said roses were lame, so, I brought you, uh…" He couldn't go on, fighting back the tears again, as he gazed at the picture of Jessica fixed to her headstone. "Jess…I should have protected you," he whispered, kneeling by the graveside. "I should have told you the truth, if I did you would still be alive and Gracie would still have a mother. He _bent forward _to lay the flowers down, only for a hand to shoot out of the grave and grab his wrist_

Sam jolted awake at once to the song "Hot Blooded" blasting from the radio. He looked away, out of the window, his expression bleak.

Pinching his nose between his thumb and forefinger, wishing that once, just once, he could _not _have a dream about Jessica's death, or rather not have a nightmare. They were never happy dreams and the lack of a good nights sleep was starting to get to him.

Without looking at him, Dean asked, "You okay?"

"What? Yeah, I'm fine," Sam said quickly. The moment the words left his mouth, he knew that Dean would be able to tell he was lying

"Another nightmare?" Dean wondered, without looking at him. Sam turned away with a grimace, wishing that for once his brother would let something get by him.

He cleared his throat loudly as a response, he wasn't gonna answer that one.

"You wanna drive for a while?" Dean tried.

Sam tried to keep his emotions in check, yet wasn't able to keep his jaw from dropping open at his brother question.

"Dean, your whole life you never once asked me that." He pointed out. "Even as a teenager I was forbidden to drive it, unless dad ordered you to let me and that always ended up with you complaining about it, or the one time you taught me how to drive it didn't end well.

With a shrug, Dean immediately got defensive. "Just thought you might want to," he said flatly. "Never mind then, but I never complained about that. And that driving lesson proved you weren't ready."

With a sigh, Sam figured out, what was bothering his brother. "Look man, I get it. You're worried about me. Thanks, but, I'm perfectly okay." He could almost hear the lie grating through his teeth.

To break the heavy silence, he grabbed the road-map off the dashboard and looked at it. "Alright, where are we?"

"We are just outside of Grand Junction," Dean replied. His thoughts dwelled on his little brother however, making it difficult to pay attention to the road.

Sam sighed. "You know, maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford and headed to Bobby house so soon, we should have stayed, in case the demon showed up again."

"Sam, we dug around for four days and came up with nothing. Why would the demon show up again? If you want to find the demon that killed Jessica…"

"…we've got to find dad first." Sam finished for him, studying the map for the hundredth time in six hours. He sighed and looked out the window again, "I know, Dean."

"Dad disappearing and this thing showing up again after twenty years…that's no coincidence. Dad will have answers. He'll know what to do. I just wish. I knew how in the hell we are supposed to find him?"

Sam was still frowning at the map. "It's weird, man. These coordinates dad left us, this…Black Water Ridge?"

"What about it?" Dean asked in a tense voice.

"There's nothing there, just…woods." He put the map down and scowled deep in thought. "Why's he sending us to the middle of nowhere?"

Dean didn't have an answer. He turned the Impala onto the road that led to Lost Creek, Colorado.

Both of them knew it was going to be a hell of a long week.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**South Dakota, Bobby house**

Mel was sitting on the couch, observing Gracie sit on the bean bag chair watching the singing purple dinosaur, when her cell phone rang.

"Hello…" She answered it.

"_Hey sis, how are things going at Bobby's house?" Julie asked on the other side of the line._

"Everything is fine, Sam and Dean are on a hunt, and I'm taking care of Gracie, who is watching Barney on TV right now."

"_So is dean hot or what?"_

"Sis, I can't believe you, I barely know him, so let's just say, I bumped into him the other day, when he came out of the shower." Mel replied, looking at Gracie clapping her hands to a song being played on the show

"_Well, is he or isn't he?"_

"Yep, he does have a hot body. Anyway how are things at home?" She asked, changing the subject.

"_Everything fine and granny is fine, she is helping me learn Latin this week. Hey, remember Ricky Ashmore"_

"Sure I remember him, why?"

"_He asked me out the other day, but I told him we should take it slow and ever since we've been talking nonstop."_

"That's good sis, I'm happy for you, but you're sure he isn't a creature or something supernatural"

"_Nope he isn't, I did all the routine check and he came out clean."_

"Ok, awe I have to go Gracie just fell asleep on the floor." Mel looked at the little girl on the floor sleeping

"_Oh alright, talk to you later or maybe tomorrow, bye." Julie replied, hanging up the phone._

"Bye!" Melinda said, getting off the couch, she picked up a sleeping Gracie and placed her in the playpen, walking into the kitchen, where bobby was making sandwiches.

"I'm making lunch, want one? Is the little one sleeping?" He asked, while cutting the sandwiches in half.

"Yeah I would like one and..." before Mel could finish, Stella ran downstairs with tears in her eyes.

"Stella what happened, why are you crying?" Her father asked, noticing his daughter's tears

"Jared broke my picture of mom that was sitting on my night stand." She cried.

"Jared, get down here, now!" Bobby yelled.

"Yeah, what's going on dad?" Jared inquired innocently.

"Tell me the truth, did you break your sister picture of your mother?"

"So what, she made me mad and it was the closest thing to break."

"You are going to fix it somehow. Also, you're grounded for 2 weeks and no hunting next weekend." Bobby ordered.

"That is so unfair, dad." He scoffed.

"Want to make it 3?" His father wondered, not liking his son's tone of voice.

"No, I'll go fix it." He agreed, leaving the room, but not before grabbing a sandwich from the table.

"You ok now, sweetie?" Bobby asked his daughter.

"Yeah, I'll be ok, dad. Can I watch some TV, Spongebob is on." Stella requested, while wiping her eyes with a tissue.

"Sure go ahead, but be quiet Gracie is sleeping in the playpen." Her dad instructed, while taking a bite from his sandwich.

"Yep I'll be quiet." She promised.

OOOOOOOOOOO

**Lost Creek Ranger Station**

Once the car was parked, the brothers got out and follow the path to the ranger station, passing a family, which was just leaving and on their way back to their car. The little girl walking on her mother's hand made a comment, when she saw Sam.

"Mommy look at that tall man, he is huge."

"Sweetie, don't talk about people like that."

Once the family was gone, the brothers entered the station and looked around. Sam notice a scale reproduction of the area, while Dean was busy looking at the bear hanging on the wall

"Dude, check out the size of this freaking bear." Dean marveled, not listening to another word once his attention was drawn to the photograph of a bear and the life like bear mounted on the wall

"Dean, were you even listening to a word I said?"

Just then the ranger walks into the room, asking them, why they are there. Telling him they were environmental studies majors from UC Boulder, working on a paper, Dean added an enthusiastic "recycle, man"accompanied by a pumping of his fist, as his contribution to the cover story. The ranger didn't buy their story for one minute though.

"That's bull; you're friends with that Haley girl, right?"

"Yes, yes we are Ranger Wilkinson." Dean decided to go with it.

"Well, I'll tell you the same thing I told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit, saying he wouldn't be back from Black Water till the 24th, so it's not exactly a missing person, now is it? Tell that girl and her other 2 siblings that their brother is fine."

"We will. Well that Haley girl is quit a pistol, huh?" Dean asked

"Well, that is putting it mildly."

"It also would help, if we could have a copy of that permit for that backcountry trip. You know, so she could see her brother's return date then."

Once the ranger gave them the copy, they left, following the path back to the car.

"So, what are you cruising for, a hook up or something?" Sam questioned.

"What do you mean?"

"The coordinates point to Black Water Ridge, so what are we waiting for? Let's just go find dad. I mean, what's the point of even talking to this girl?"

"I dunno, maybe we should know more before we actually walk into it?"

"What?"

"Well, since when are you shooting first, ask questions later anyway?"

"Since now and since everything happened these past few weeks!" Sam replied, getting into the car

"Oh really?"

Arriving at Haley's house a little later, they talked to her about her brother and how she suspected he was missing, because he missed his daily check-in, which he usually made by sending emails, photos, little videos or calling via satellite phone. She also told them, how it was only her and her three siblings, ever since their parents died. Showing them the latest video, Sam frowned slightly, when he noticed something in it. When Dean told her, Sam and he were going out there in the morning; she responded that they hired a guide to take them. After they finished talking both left with the tape Haley had given them.

Staying behind at their motel later, as it didn't feel right to go to a bar with his brother, Sam played the video, slowing the image down to reveal a shadow outside the tent, whatever it was, it was likely the cause for the disappearances. After finishing with the video, the young man found another clue.

"So, Black Water Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic, local campers mostly. But still, this past April two hikers went missing out there and they were never found."

"Any before that?" Dean wondered.

"Yeah, in 1982 eight different people vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack, also before that in 1959 and in 1936. Every 23 years, just like clockwork. In '59 one person survived the supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid – barely crawled out of the woods alive."

"Is there a name" Dean asked.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"look ranger, I don't know why you're asking me about this. Its public records; I was a kid; my parents got mauled by...

"…a grizzly? That's what attacked them" Sam asked, talking to a now old Mr. Shaw and his wife in the living room of there house.

Dean then questioned about the other people, who went missing that year. "Were those bear attacks too? What about all the people, who went missing _this_ year, same thing? If we knew, what we were dealing with, we might be able to stop it."

"I seriously doubt that." the old Man broke his silence and then wondered what difference it would make anyway. "You wouldn't believe me, nobody ever did."

"Mr. Shaw, what did you see that night." Sam attempted to pressure the man into talking

"Nothing!" Shaw admitted at last and it clearly pained him to dredge all these traumatic memories up after so many years of silence and disbelief. It'd been the better part of half a century and he'd never been able to talk to a soul about his experience. "It moved too fast to see. It hid too well. I heard it, though. A roar, like no man or animal I've ever heard."

"Did it come at night and did it go inside your tent?"

"Why are you asking my husband these questions?" Mrs. Shaw butted in.

"We are just trying to find out what happened that night, when he was a kid." Dean replied.

"Well no, it got inside our cabin. I'd decided that night to sleep in front of the fireplace.

After talking to the man Sam and Dean headed back to the motel to prepare for the next morning, so they could head out and look for this creature, whatever it was.

OOOOOOOO

**Next Morning**

Dean busied himself packing a duffel bag with weapons from the hidden compartment in the trunk.

"We cannot let that Haley girl go out there!" Sam announced.

"Oh yeah, what are we going to tell her?" Dean asked, "She can't go into the woods, because of a big scary monster?"

"Yeah, whatever it takes!" Sam insisted, wearing his most mulish expression.

"Her brother is missing Sam. She's not just gonna sit this out. No, we go with her, protect her and keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy predator friend."

So finding Dad's not enough?" Sam seethed, slamming the trunk shut, now that their bag was packed. "Now we gotta baby sit, too?"

Dean didn't reply, just looked at him troubled.

"What?" Sam snipped, daring his brother to challenge him on his attitude.

"Nothing." Dean backed off, unwilling to push Sam too hard just yet.

OOOOOOOO

"I'm telling you again, I think neither Ben nor Sarah should come," announced Roy, the guide Haley had hired, "You're paying me good money to keep everybody safe. I think Ben and Sarah are safest at home," He argued.

"Does any one care, what I think about all this?" Sarah asked.

Just then the Impala pulled up, interrupting the debate, before an argument could break out. "You guys got room for two more?" Dean called cheerfully, making Haley roll her eyes at the prospect of them all traveling together.

"Apparently, this is all the park service could muster up for the search and rescue," she tells Roy in cynicism.

"You're rangers?" Roy asked disbelievingly, as Dean calmly nodded.

"And you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?" Haley notes, her voice dripping with skepticism.

Dean glanced down at his feet, unperturbed. "Oh, sweetheart, I don't do shorts."

"That's a cool car" Sarah spoke up.

"Thanks, it's mine." The older Winchester replied, walking with the rest of the people into the woods

After a while of hiking through the woods, they eventually reached the coordinates, John had sent them (35, -111) and from there, they found the campsite of Tommy and the other two campers, which had been torn to bits and riddled with pieces of tents and gear smeared with blood, never a good sign.

"Noooo, Haley this is Tommy tent and there's blood on it." Sarah screamed out in shock.

From there everything happened so fast, no one really had time to think. A human scream sounded through the air, making the others run off in the direction it came from. Knowing it wasn't a good idea to separate, the brothers scrambled after them, in the end catching up and finding nothing. Upon return to the camp site, their packs and any links to civilization were gone, leaving them with nothing than the clothes on their backs. They'd been set up, lured away and left with nothing by something with intelligence. It didn't take anything else for the Winchesters to figure out they were dealing with a Wendigo, a creature, once human, which was incredibly fast, strong and smart and could mimic any human voice. Just freakin' lovely in Dean's opinion.

Needing something to do, Dean picked up a stick and pulled John's journal out of his coat pocket and started carving something into the dirt.

Haley, Sarah and Ben had built a fire and Roy stood away from it, cradling his rifle like one would a small child. Sam and Dean exchanged glances frequently, not liking the situation one bit.

"So one more time, those are…?" Haley asked curiously, watching Dean carve another symbol in the dirt with the pointed tip of a long stick.

"Anazazi symbols, for protection. The Wendigo can't pass over them."

"Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy," Dean commented without looking up, when Roy laughed.

He stood up and looked into the forest. If it was out there, it was watching them. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up and his gut was churning, so scratch that, he _knew _it was watching them. He spotted Sam sitting on a tree stump, staring gloomily into the trees, thoughts obviously directed someplace far away and if he had to guess, they were about Jess and probably about what the future would hold for Gracie and him. With a sigh he took a break from babysitting, trusting Haley, Ben and Sarah would be safe for the next ten minutes and plopped down next to Sam.

"You want to tell me what's going on in that freaky head of yours, Sammy?" He inquired, bringing his knees up and resting his elbows on them.

Sam's lips briefly quirked up in a humorless smile. "Dean, I'm…"

"No, you are not fine. Believe me, I know. So stop trying to shove that bull crap down my throat. It's irritating. You're like a powder keg, man. It's not like you." Dean was worried more than he would say. Sam hadn't even smiled in days, not counting the time he was with Gracie, because that kid could make the devil smile.

Sam wouldn't look at him; instead he stared at the ground a few feet in front of his toes. He wrestled with his emotions to get the words past his throat. "Dad's not here. If you ask me, he never was here and never will be here. He would have left us something, right?"

"Yeah, you're probably right," Dean sighed, shifting to get more comfortable.

He moved to sit opposite his brother. With gentle hands he pulled their father's journal out of his pocket and held it up in front of them, one palm pressing on each side of the cover.

"This is why," he said simply, smiling, when Sam frowned at him broodingly, "This book, this is dad's single, most valuable possession. Everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he passed it on to us. I think he wants us to pick up where he left off, you know, saving people, hunting things, the family business."

Pressing his hands to his temples, Sam exhaled and pinched his eyes shut. "That makes no sense. He would have told us. Dad never lied to us, when growing up and now he won't tell us anything?"

"I don't know," Dean replied softly, the truth making his words heavy. "But the way I see it, he's given us a job and I for one intend to do it.

"Dean, I have to find the demon that killed Jessica that took her away from Gracie. It's the only thing I can think about." Sam's eyes were the ones of a haunted, burning with a hate so deep, goose-bumps ran up Dean's arms.

"Sam we will find him, I promise. Listen to me now, you need to prepare yourself and let go of all that anger. It's going to kill you. This search could take a while. You've got to learn patience. You need to learn to just go with the flow. And you need to stop with these moods you get. Start letting go of Jessica and instead start living for Gracie sake

"Yeah you're right, but it's hard to do that. How did you and dad do it?

"Look at them for one," Dean said, nodding at Ben and Hailey. "I figure our family is so screwed up, we might be able to ease the suffering of others, while we do these things. Plus in my opinion, every evil thing that I kill means the world is a safer place for your daughter, my niece. And I'll tell you what else helps, killing as many evil sons of bitches as we _possibly_ can."

All of a sudden a voice rang through the forest.

"Help me!" it cried in broken, tearing tones – the tone of a terrified man. "Somebody help me!"

The brothers stood and moved to the center of the camp, shining the flashlights into the trees.

"Please!"

Dean shook his head at the nerve of the thing. "It's trying to draw us out," he said calmly, taking note of how tense Ben, Sarah and Haley looked. "Just stay cool, stay calm."

"Inside the magic circle?" Roy mocked with laughter.

He turned to shine the flashlight in the hunter's face.

"_Help me! Please help me!_"

Roy lifted his gun. "That is some grizzly," he breathed, firing off a shot. He fired another, and the roar turned into a screech of pain. "I think I got it!" he called triumphantly. He ran into the trees, over the symbols.

The goddamn idiot! "Roy, no!" Dean roared, but it was too late. "Roy!"

Haley had grabbed a torch and watched him with wide eyes. "Don't move!" He ordered, chasing after the idiot with Sam hot on his heels. Judging by her facial expression, she wasn't going anywhere. They followed the hunter's calls.

"It's over here! It's in the trees!"

Just as the words left his mouth, hands reached down to snap his neck like a twig. His body was yanked up among the branches. Dean and Sam skidded to a halt and cursed violently.

They were too late.

Walking back to the others Sarah was in Haley arms crying

"I want to go home." She cried.

"Hey sis, look at me. Once we find Tommy, we will all go home and celebrate your 14th birthday next month"

"I don't care I want to go home now, please." Sarah begged Haley.

"Come here, sis." Ben said. Once Sarah walked over to him, Ben calmly talked to her

Watching this unfold it made Sam sad, it made him think about his daughter at home and how innocent she was in all this, just like these kids in front of him

OOOOOOOOOOO

Morning dawned to find Sam curled against the same tree stump, their dad's journal resting on his lap. He stared off into space, upset that Roy had been killed, before they had been able to save him. Exhaustion seeped into his limbs and his eyelids felt heavy, but he could not fall asleep. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd slept well, if at all.

"So tell me again, what is this thing?" Haley asked Dean, following him around the campsite.

"A Wendigo."

"How do you change into one of those things?" asked Sarah

"All of them were once men," Dean continued, as if he'd never been interrupted and without breaking stride, "sometimes pioneers, Indians, hunters…it all happens the same way. Guy finds himself alone, cut off from help or supplies, turns cannibal to stay alive, eating other members of his tribe or group."

"Cultures all around the world believe that eating human flesh gives the person superhuman abilities – strength, speed, intelligence." Sam lifted his shoulders in a half-shrug.

"And if it's holding Tommy somewhere, how can he still be alive? Wouldn't he already have died of dehydration and hunger?" asked Haley.

Exchanging a glance with Sam, Dean shrugged and looked back at her. "You're not going to like it," he said point blank.

"Tell me."

"More than anything the Wendigo knows how to survive long winters without food. When it's awake, it's always hungry. It will store its food and eat as it sees fit. If your brother is still alive, it's keeping him someplace dark, hidden, and safe. And probably underground. We've got to track it back there," Dean explained.

"So how do you kill it?" Haley wondered.

"Well," Dean sighed. "Guns are useless, so are knives. Basically…we torch the sucker." He held up the materials and smirked.

Haley stared at them. "How exactly do you get into this?" she wondered aloud.

"Oh, if I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that, I'd be rich," Dean mused bleakly.

Sam elbowed him in the side. "Dude, shut up, you're not helping, you're only making this worse"

Dean grinned and rubbed his ribs, while Haley stared at the wedding ring around Sam neck.

"If you have a family, why are you out here? Don't you have a job or a life?" she asked, staring at Sam

"It's a long story, which I don't like to relive, but I do have a one year old daughter"

"Is she cute?" Sarah asked, speaking up

"I'll show you a picture once we find Tommy and we get out of this mess"

"Ok." She replied.

Once everyone was ready, they moved out to look for Tommy, but just then they heard the unmistakable sound of the Wendigo moving in the bushes nearby and all snapped into full alert mood yet again. Whirling around they tried to keep track of where it was, backing into one another to form a defensive huddle at the center of the clearing. Then Haley noticed blood dripping onto her shoulder and glanced up. Moving aside with a scream, she was just in time to avoid having Roy's corpse land on top of her. While Sam helped her back to her feet and ascertained she's okay, Dean checked Roy, determining that his neck had been broken.

With the Wendigo right there and closing in, they all started to run for their lives, legging it through the woods, as fast as they could, until young Ben stumbled over a root and lost his footing,

"Ben, get up quick that thing is after us." Sarah begged nearly hysteric.

"Hey sis, calm down I'm fine, pull your self together."

"Sorry to ruin the moment, but run" Sam ordered.

With that all three started running for there lives.

Up ahead, Dean and Haley skidded to a halt, when they saw the dark figure of the Wendigo right ahead of them, too late and too close to escape.

Still sprinting, Sam, Sarah and Ben heard Haley scream and ran faster still, until they reached the spot, where the other two just had – only to find it empty. While Ben and Sarah shouted for their sister, who has been a shield for them, Sam's eyes instantly land on something on the ground. Stooping, he picked it up; it was a broken bottle with a rag stuffed into it, the remains of Dean's would-be firebomb. Horrified at the implication, Sam yelled loudly for his brother, while Sarah started to cry again.

"Ben, we need to find Haley now, we can't loose her and Tommy. We lost mom and dad already"

"Hey Sarah calm down, we will find Haley and Tommy and then we will all go back to being a family, but first you need to calm down."

A couple of weeks ago Sam had everything he ever wanted, beautiful fiancée, happy family, comfortable home, 'scary good' test scores, and an interview all lined up to get into law school, all that is gone now. His fiancee is dead, his daughter is motherless and his home destroyed, he's dropped out of school, his father is missing, and his brother has just been snatched by a man-eating monster.

**Author's note:part 2 will be up shortly**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: sadly I still don't own Sam or dean nor the other characters and I don't own spn they both belong to the awesome kripke and the cw **

**a/n: thanks to all who read,review and alerted this story without you all this story wouldn't be possible **

**BETA: the awesome and wonderful Vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOOO**

**"**If it keeps its victims alive, why would it kill Roy?" Ben wondered as he, his sister and Sam searched the woods for any trace of their missing older siblings.

"Honestly? I think it's because Roy shot at it, pissed it off." Sam suggested.

Finally they got lucky, as sharp-eyed Ben spotted a clue – colorful peanut M&Ms marking a trail of sorts. "Better than breadcrumbs," Sam rejoiced the relief of both little brothers and sister was immense. Very cautious they followed the trail.

Dean's trail of M&Ms eventually led them to an abandoned mine.

"It says not to enter. So I think we shouldn't."

"Sarah, if you want to find Haley and Tommy, we have to go inside" Ben stated at his scared sister's response.

"Ok"

The small group started their trip into the extreme darkness of the tunnels. Just as they enter, Sam heard a growling ahead of them and pulled Ben and Sarah into one of the side tunnel. The next thing they saw was not one but two Wendigos stalking past them. Quickly Sam clamped a hand over Ben's mouth, using the other to do the same for Sarah, who was on the verge of screaming.

Once the monsters passed, the group continued on their way – only for the floor beneath them to give out beneath them, as it turned out to not be solid, but rather rotten planking, sending them plummeting into the chamber below.

Winded from the fall, all three took a moment to catch their breath, before Ben opened his eyes to several human skulls right in front of his nose. Skittering back toward Sam, who already had turned away to scan the room, his eyes go wide at what he sees - Dean and Haley, both looking pretty banged up and strung up like slabs of meat in a butcher shop. Their feet are well and truly off the ground.

Immediately Sarah started running towards her sister, while Sam rushed over to Dean. Once they untied them and made sure they were ok, Sarah looked up, just as Haley gasped at the sight of Tommy.

"Haley is he alive?"

For a moment the two older siblings assumed the worst…until Tommy opened his eyes. Cutting him down, Sam helped Haley and Ben to tend to him.

"Tommy you're alive, thank goodness." Sarah cried out.

"Hey guys, you found me." Tommy voice was still filled with disbelieve.

During the little reunion, Dean – still slumped against the wall, recovering from his ordeal – started to cast an eye around the place. Finding he was sitting right alongside their stolen packs, he pulled one closer and rifled through it. Stiff and sore, he clambered to his feet, two guns in hand.

Hey check it out."Dean he said.

"Flare guns. Those will work."

"Umm Dean, I hope you have enough because there is not just one, there are two Wendigos out there.

"Oh well, more for us to kill then."

Handing one of the flare guns to Sam, Dean led the way out of the Wendigo's lair, while Haley, Sarah and Ben supported a very weak Tommy. Dean, although looking sore too, was more than capable to walk on his own. The sudden sound of growling from somewhere in the maze of tunnels ahead of them put them on full alert.

"Looks like someone's home for supper." Dean noted, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" He asked Sam.

Seeing his brother nod, Dean turned to the others. "All right, listen to me. Stay with Sam; he's going to get you out of here."

Dean tossed Haley a mischievous wink, before taking off down one of the side tunnels, yelling loudly. "Show time you freaky bastard. Yeah, that's right – bring it on, baby. I taste good!"

Getting out had been chaotic and after the first monster nearly had killed them, Sam had been able to shut it with his flare gun. Just as they had almost been out, the second one had appeared. Luckily Dean had showed up and killed it with his flare. After that Dean and Sam had lead the others out of the forest and thank god back into civilization.

Once they had made it to the ranger station, they had decided to tell a story of a massive two eight hundred pound grizzly that had attacked them. And much to their relief, everyone so far had been buying it.

On the bright side, no one would ever find it, so no one would ever wonder what really happened out in those woods. The Park Service was already sending out rangers to look for it.

Sitting side-by-side on the trunk of the Impala, the brothers watched the paramedics load a bandaged Tommy into the back. Ben, Sarah and Haley walked over, arms over each other's shoulders, smiling at the pair.

"How can we ever thank you?" she asked.

Ben grinned and shook both of their hands, before Sarah interrupted, "Can I see the picture of your daughter now; you know, the one you promised I could see, if we make it back."

"Sarah that was rude, next time say excuse me." Haley warned.

"It's fine, ummm sure" Sam replied, digging into his wallet and fishing out a picture of Gracie.

"She is so cute. Look Haley isn't she so cute" Sarah asked, handing back the picture to Sam.

Are you riding with your brother?" one of the EMT's asked.

"Yeah, hold on just a minute." Leaning forward, Haley kissed Dean on the cheek, making him blink in surprise.

"Sam take good care of your daughter, she is beautiful. I hope you guys find your dad." She said.

Smiling, the siblings walked to the ambulance and climbed in beside their brother, watching the Winchesters disappear, as the ambulance drove away.

Dean puckered his lips thoughtfully. "I really hate camping," he said with feeling.

Sam laughed once without humor. "Yeah, me too," he agreed.

A smile tugged at his lips. For a long minute they stayed silent.

"Sam, you know we'll find dad, right?"

"Yeah," Sam sighed, turning to stare at his brother. He smiled, a real smile, for the first time in almost two weeks. "But until then…I'm driving."

Dean looked forward again, frowned in thought, and tossed the keys at him without looking. At least, whatever was going on in that freak head of his brother was starting to turn normal again. He hoped beyond hope that this meant he was starting to recover from Jessica's death, for the sake of his daughter. He climbed into the passenger side of his car, suddenly regretting that he agreed to let Sam drive.

Sam grinned and revved the engine just to get Dean's blood running before putting it in drive and pulling out of Lost Creek, Colorado and onto the open road. Dean couldn't complain too much. His brother didn't drive any faster than he did, plus, he let him listen to Metallica , so it wasn't all bad. Until a half hour into the drive Sam changed it to country and dean then regretted letting his brother drive

"Are we going back to Bobby's house" Sam asked eyes on the road.

"What do you think bro? I think someone is waiting for you at Bobby's."

"Yeah true, I have to tell you something though."

"Sure, what is it?"

"You're right, Dean. I have to let go of all that anger. And with dad gone, I have to be there for Gracie, since I'm the only parent she has left. I know she has a lot of people that love her, but…"

"Ok daddy, lets head home so you can play with her, but first lets head off to a motel I need a shower and a nap." Dean replied, smirking and laughing.

"Sure"

Sam drove for two hours till they found a motel. He booked a room and they headed off to sleep.

Not able to sleep right away, Sam got up off the bed and left the room quietly, not to disturb is sleeping brother, taking his cell phone, he called bobby's house.

"_Hello" A groggy person on the other end asked._

"Hey Melinda, how are things at Bobby's house and how is Gracie doing"

"_Oh, it's you Sam. She is doing fine; she is sleeping since it is late."_

"Yeah sorry, for calling so late, I was just checking up to see, how she was while I was away."

"_Sam you're not missing anything. Oh Stella told me, to let you know that she found the letters from a girl by the name of Alisa Morgan."_

"She did well; tell her to hold on to them, till I get back tomorrow evening"

"_Yep I'll tell her. How was the hunt?"_

"The hunt was all right, there were two Wendigos we ended up hunting."

"Oh, I know those creatures, I read up on them before. Look Sam, I got to go, so good night."

"Alright, see ya all tomorrow." He replied, hanging up his phone. Walking back in the room he laid down and went to sleep.

**Author's note: get ready because the next two chapters will be shocking**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: the boys and other characters and spn don't belong to me they belong to kripke and the cw I'm just playing with them**

**a/n: this chapter and the next one will be shocking also thanks to everyone who is reading,alerted and reviewed this story**

**BETA: the wonderful and awesome Vonni836**

**OOOOOOOO**

**The next day**

"Sam, if I hear one more country song, I'm kicking you out the car." Dean yelled trying to make himself heard over the music coming from the radio.

"Hey, it's the rule, driver picks the music and shot gun, which is you, shuts his cake hole." Sam replied laughing at his brother's outburst.

They where two hours away from Bobby's house and so far Dean regretted letting his brother drive the Impala, since that meant he had to sit through his brother's choice of music.

"Oh watch, when I..." Before Dean could finish talking, his phone rang and he looked at the caller id. Although it said 'unknown caller', he picked it up and spoke into the phone, "Hello"

"_Dean is that you?"_

"Dad!" Dean yelled out in surprise.

Sam looked like he was in shock also, when he heard his brother yell, pulling over to the side of the road to prevent an accident.

"Dad, where are you?"

"_I can't tell you where I am, but I want to know, is your brother with you?"_

"Yeah, Sammy is with me, why you ask?"

"_It's not important right now. Keep him and my granddaughter safe."_

"Dad, what is going on? Sam and I've been looking for you."

"I _can't tell you where I am and what I'm doing it's not safe for you to know."_

"Dad come on, just give us a clue."

"_I'm sorry Dean, but I have things to do and…" _before he could finish, the conversation ended

"Dammit"

"Dean, what did dad want?" Sam asked.

"He said to keep you and Gracie safe and that's about it."

"Did he tell you where he is?"

"No he didn't, but I think we should head to Bobby's house now. I'm taking over the driving."

"Ok"

Once Dean got behind the driver seat, the trip to Bobby's took only an hour, yet the whole time the conversation he had with his dad, kept playing over and over in his head. Once they arrived, Rumsfield, Bobby's Rottweiler greeted them.

Getting out, they walked up to the door, when they heard playful screaming coming from the inside.

"I think Gracie is making them run around, your daughter has a real loud voice." Dean said, while ringing the door bell.

When Stella opened the door, she said playfully, "So, are you two the pizza guys, because we ordered, like ten minutes ago."

"Ha ha, good one, but no we're not. So you ordered pizza." The older Winchester replied.

"I knew that and no we didn't order any pizza. Sam, you better go help Melinda with Gracie, she is running around the house without clothes on."

"Yeah, I'll do that now." Sam smiled, running inside and leaving Stella and his brother behind.

"So Dean, what happened to you? It looks like you took a beating."

"No, it was the thing we were hunting, a wendigo that gave me these bruises."

"Oh, those creatures are ugly looking. Dad took me to a hunt like that when I turned 15 last year and it was a great birthday."

"Ok, what are you watching?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Spongebob."

"That sponge gives me the creeps sometimes"

"Yeah he does me too, but he is fun to watch."

Just then Melinda came in with Sam behind her carrying Gracie.

"Next time I give her a bath, I'll do it before her nap." The young woman said, sitting down on the couch, tired from chasing after the lively toddler.

"Did she ever do that before?" Stella asked.

"Yeah, she did it all the time with Jessica." He sat down with his daughter.

"Dada, Dada" Gracie pointed excitedly at Sam.

"Yeah baby, daddy is here now."

Walking in, Bobby looked at them, before speaking up, "So I guess Dean either had a fight with someone or the thing you hunted decided to rough him up."

"No, I didn't, why is everyone saying that and yeah, the wendigo got me. "

"Hey, umm Bobby, can we talk to you?" The younger brother interrupted.

" I just remembered, I have to go over to Hannah for a party, I'll be back in a hour" Stella excused herself, hurrying to get her bag and storming out.

"I'll go make dinner." Mel said, also leaving the room.

Sam stood up and set Gracie in the play pen, where she started playing with her teddy bear.

"So, what do you wanted to talk about."

"Well, when we were on our way here dad called."

"Did he say where he is and what he is doing?" A shocked Bobby asked.

"No, dad only said to protect Sam and Gracie. He didn't say anything else, before the conversation ended" Dean through in.

"What did your old man mean by that?"

"I wish I knew, this means we have to keep looking for him.

"I just hope your dad comes to his senses and shows up here, but knowing John that won't happen. When he called, did he tell you where he is?"

"No" Sam replied, while looking at his daughter playing with her bear and making happy noises.

"Yeah, but in the meantime Sam and I can help other people, while we look for him."

"So Bobby, how was my daughter while I was gone?" The young father changed the subject.

"She was a little angel and behaved very well, at least until she started hiding things." The old hunter laughed.

"Oh yeah, I might have forgot to mention that she likes to take things and hide them."

"Hey guys, anyone hungry for dinner?" Mel yelled from the kitchen.

Getting up, Dean and Bobby went into the kitchen, while Sam stayed in the living room with Gracie, lifting her back out the play pen.

"Come here baby, did you behave well for every one?" The youngest Winchester asked.

"Dada" Gracie babbled, holding the bear up to her father.

"For me? Are you sure you don't want it?" Sam smiled at his daughter.

While Sam was talking with his daughter, Melinda was standing in the doorway looking at father and daughter bonding, hesitating to interrupt so Sam could eat.

"Sorry to interrupt Sam, but dinner is ready and Gracie needs to eat also."

"Sure, I'll be there in a minute.

A short while later Sam walked into the kitchen and sat Gracie in the high chair, where her food was waiting for her. After dinner and dessert Jared and Stella arrived at home.

"So Jared, where have you been?" Dean asked, as soon as he saw him.

"Oh hey, I didn't know you guys were home. I was hanging out with my friends, since it's a Saturday. Let me guess, you went ten rounds with whatever you two were hunting?"

"Finally someone, who says something else, besides I look like I was in a fight."

"Anyone up for cherry pie?" Stella asked, walking into the house with a box of pie.

"Do you need to ask?" Dean questioned, getting up and taking the box from her.

"Hey that pie isn't all for you Dean."

After everyone ate, they all retreated to the living room to watch some TV, while Bobby's kids went up to their rooms. Three minutes later though, Stella reappeared.

"Sam, remember the letters I mentioned, the ones Alisa left here?"

"Yeah, why"

"You want them now?" She asked, holding them up.

"Sure, let me see them."

"Ok" Stella replied, handing the letters over to the young man.

"So bro, what are those and from whom?" His older brother asked.

"They are letters from Alisa Morgan."

"Oh yeah, I remember he. Go ahead and read them, I would love to find out what pansy stuff she wrote you." Dean laughed.

After a few seconds of hesitation Sam finally opened the letter that had "_Important" written _on the cover. He started reading it, while everyone in the room was watching with anticipation. Just then the younger hunter dropped the letter and looked up at Dean with tears in his eyes.

"Sammy, what's wrong? What's in the letter?"

**Author's Note: uh oh, what do you think is in the letter to make Sam react like that?**


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: sadly I don't own the boys or anyone else on the show they belong to kripke and spn belongs to the cw. I'm only using them **

**a/n: this is a shocking chapter and thank you to all who reviewed, alerted and is reading this and also this is the right chp my bad I posted the wrong one oops**

**BETA: the awesome Vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOOOO**

Sammy what's wrong, what's in the letter? Come on Sam, speak to me!"

"I-I … think you should read it." A shock Sam replied.

"Ok sure, it can't be that bad." Dean said, picking up the letter and reading it.

_Dear Sam; _

_It's hard for me to write this letter, but I think it's time that you knew a secret I've been keeping for the longest time that only my dad and Eric knew about_

_Sam about a month after you left for Stanford my dad moved me and Eric to Jamaica. I found out I was pregnant with your child._

_Ariela Hope was born May 2nd 2002, on your birthday, as you can tell by her date of birth, but Sam sadly I couldn't raise her in this life, so I did the only thing I could, I put her up for adoption. I had to do what was in the best interest for our daughter and for me._

_Our child deserves a better life then we can give her._

_Attached is a picture of her that I received from the agency. Ariela would be one year old by now and there isn't a day that goes by that I not wish, she was still with me._

_Sam, I'm so sorry I never called to tell you or anyone else know about the baby, but I thought it was best to keep it a secret. I also want you to do me a favor; please don't go looking for her. Our daughter is better off wherever she is now._

_Love, _

_Alisa_

After dean finished reading the letter, he looked at his brothe,r who was looking at the picture of the daughter he never got to see.

"Sammy, you alright?"

"Ummm...yeah ummm...excuse me." Sam stuttered hurriedly getting up and walking out the door.

"What was the letter about?" Bobby asked

"It's from Alisa Morgan; apparently Sam and she have a kid.

"What? Let me see that letter!" The older man stated, taking the letter and starting reading it. After a few seconds, he looked up.

"Wow, this is huge news." Stella blurted out from her spot on the couch.

"Let me go and check on your brother." Mel said, following the young man outside. She found him sitting on the steps of front porch with his face in his hands. It broke her heart.

"Sam I know you're not ok, but talk to me." She coached, sitting down next to him.

"i just can't believe she never called to tell me about the baby. I had a right to know, but she went and kept it a secret." Sam retorted, looking at the only picture of his child, while wiping a tear from his eye.

"Sam, she probably had a good reason."

"She said that she didn't want her in this life and I understand, but at least I should have been there to see her birth."

"Sam, if you would have been there, it would have been even worse, because then it would have been a lot harder for the both of you to give her up."

While the two of them where talking outside, everyone inside was still in shock.

OOOOOOOO

"So I have another niece out there. Dad will be surprised to know, he has another granddaughter. Can this day get any worse?"

"No, don't say that!" Stella yelled from the kitchen.

"Stella, no yelling in the house." Bobby scorned.

"Sorry dad, but usually when people say that, it happens and I don't want to be anywhere near Dean since he said that, so I'll be in my room." She said, walking out the room.

"So how you think your brother taking this?"

"Not too well I think, a lot has happened this month, Jessica's death, dad disappearing, him calling today and now this."

"I know what you mean, most people would be beyond their breaking point by now, but don't forget, your brother has us to help him and he is strong."

Just then Sam came back in, followed by Melinda.

"Ummm… Bobby, do you still have Mark's phone number?"

"I'm sorry Sam… I don't. Why are you asking?"

"I wanted to call him, so I can get in contact with Alisa."

"Sam, I wish I could help, but Mark never gave me his number before leaving the State."

"Dada, Dada." Gracie cried out, running to her daddy, while holding her teddy bear

"Baby, you ok?" Sam picked up his daughter.

"Sam, even though you have another daughter out there, you have one right here with you."

"Yeah, you're right." Sam responded thoughtfully, looking at his daughter, who was staring at him.

"Hey, what's going on down here?" Jared wondered, as he walked into the living room.

"Nothing you should be worried about."

"Ok, anyway dad, I'll see you later. I'm going to see a movie that starts at 8 PM, so see ya." He called out, before leaving.

When everyone had calmed down, they all sat down in the living room to watch TV, while Sam was on the floor playing with Gracie, letting her tackle him to the floor and enjoying as squealed with delight.

"Baby, you got daddy."

Getting off him, the toddler walked over to where Dean was.

"May I help you?" The older Winchester asked, looking at his niece, who was standing in front of him.

"De" She cried, spreading her arms out.

"Ok," He said, picking Gracie up and setting her on his lap.

"Awe, I should take a picture of this cute moment."Melinda spoke up, as she came in with her camera and snapped a picture, before Dean could say anything.

"Did you have to do that?" He complained.

"Didn't you know that chicks adore guys with kids?" Stella informed him, walking in with ice cream.

"Owie ceam." Gracie squealed, pointing at it.

"I knew she would want one so I made her some."

Walking over, she handed her the small cone.

"How did you, know she wanted an ice cream" Dean asked.

"I kinda understand what little kids say, since some of my friends have little siblings. I guess Gracie wants to give you some of her ice cream."

When Dean looked down, he saw Gracie rising her cone up to him.

"Want me to have some, are you sure? Alright." The oldest Winchester ate some of her ice cream.

"De" She squealed, clapping her hands and dropping her ice cream on the floor. Looking at it in shock, she started crying.

"Uh oh, someone lost their ice cream" Sam got off the floor and taking Gracie off of Dean, he cleaned her sticky hands and face with a wipe then placed her on the floor

"I'll pick it up."

"It's ok Ella I'll clean it."

After cleaning up the mess, Stella took the napkin and threw it away.

"Sam, I think someone needs to get sleep." She said, as she came back and saw Gracie halfway asleep on the floor.

"Melinda, can you take Gracie up to bed? I want to talk to Bobby and Dean."

"Sure, I'll put her to bed. Why don't you come along Stella, let the men talk." She said, picking up a sleeping Gracie. "so Sam what you want to talk about"

Once they left, Sam started, "Did Mark ever suggest or say that Alisa had a kid, when they came down here for Eric burial or did Alisa say anything?"

"No, Mark never said anything, nor did Alisa. Why do you ask?"

"I just wish, she would have told me."

"Sammy, if she told you, what would you have done?"

"I don't know, help her or be there for her?"

"I don't think she would have wanted you there after you two broke up. Wait, did you read the other letter you got?" Dean asked, remembering the second envelope.

"No, I didn't read it yet; I'll do it before going to bed."

Just then Mel walked in, "Sam, sorry to interrupt, but Gracie just woke up crying and kept on calling for you."

"Ok, I'll be there in a minute, can you stay with her till I get there."

"Sure" She said.

"Sam, Alisa didn't tell you and she doesn't want you to look for her. I think. we should honor that request."

"I guess I have no other option. So, I'll see ya in the morning." Sam said getting up and walking upstairs, passing Stella in the hall.

"She is fine now. I played peek-a-boo with her and she calmed right down."

"Thanks for helping!"

"Hey anything to help my god brother."

"oh, I forgot that bobby made my dad your godfather."

"yeah, but I got to hit the bed, Jared and I have to train tomorrow."

"Ok, have a good night." The youngest Winchester said, entering the guest room.

Walking over to the crib, he made sure Gracie was asleep then sat down on the bed and took out the other envelope and started reading the letter.

_Dear Sam;_

_If you're reading this then you read the first letter. Well, there are so many things, I would like to tell you, but what I really want to say is that I'm sorry for the way I blew up on you, when you told me you got accepted to Stanford. I wasn't mad at you, I was actually happy, because at least you were able to do something outside of hunting._

_If I would have been able to go away for college, I would have, but school wasn't a strong point for me, like it was for you. The reason why I was mad, when you told me is because I was scared about what might happened to you and that you might forget about me. So I thought it would be better to break before hand. I instigated the fight, because I knew it would be the only way for you to let me go_

_Sam you will always my fist love, but sooner or later, we had to grow up and forget about each other. You are where you're supposed to be, away at school, doing what you like best, studying and I'm here with my dad hunting._

_Sam, at first, when I found out I was pregnant, I was happy, but then I started realizing that I can't raise a child in this life we grew up in. So I did what I had to. I know, wherever she is, she is happy. Sam, I always loved you, but I know that sooner or later you will find that special person and start a family with her._

_I will always remember you and all the happy times we had together. Hey, maybe one day we will see each other again. I'm proud of you for being brave and taking that leap that other hunters never take and going to college _

_If you're still trying to figure out, how we created a child then remember back to the month before you left, the night after we graduated. Tell Dean, he can stop doing the math, that's what he would be doing right now to figure this out. Heck, don't tell him this, but he wasn't that bright in math. Oh so many funny memories, but that has to wait for another time._

_Sam, I'm going to leave you with a few words. Reach for the stars and achieve what you want to achieve and don't let anyone tell you otherwise._

_P.S. I attached a picture of us when we were teenagers and kids. _

_Love _

_Alisa _

After finishing the letter, Sam started to wonder about everything he read then he found another envelope with the pictures and another letter and started reading it.

_Dear whom it may concern; _

_My name is Alice Suresh and I'm the worker involved in the adoption of Ariela Hope. I just wanted to let the biological parents know that she had her birthday a couple days ago. She turned one year old and she is doing fine. This will be the last letter to be written about her progress, as the family wishes to move on and raise her as their own. The family agreed to sending pictures till the age of six. This will be the only connection you will have with her._

_Sincerely, _

_Alice Suresh_

Reading the last line of the letter, Dean interrupted by walking into the room.

"So, what did the letter say?" The older Winchester asked, sitting down beside him.

"Well, she wrote about why we really broke up and some other stuff." Sam looked at his brother.

"Sammy, I don't know what you're going through, but I think Alisa did the best she could for everyone's sake"

"Yeah, she did, but she could at least have called to let me know she was pregnant so she wouldn't have been all alone in this."

"What's done is done and you can't dwell on it. I'll see you in the morning, before this turns into a chick flick moment." Dean got up and was about to leave, when Sam stopped him.

"I got a letter from the adoption agency, also, well Alisa did."

"What did it say?"

"It says Ariela just turned one, but this was dated 2003."

"So I guess that means she is three now. Hey, you and her share a birthday."

"Yeah, you're right."

"Hey, I'm going to take a shower now, so I'll see you in the morning. Oh and Sammy, let it go!" The older brother suggested before he left.

"i guess the right thing to do, would be to let it go." Sam mused.

After getting ready for bed, he was about to sleep fall asleep, when he heard a scream out in the hallway. Jumping up, he ran out and bumped into Melinda.

"Whoa, what happened out here?" he asked, looking at a terrified Mel.

"Doesn't your brother ever lock the bathroom door?" She asked, still in shock.

"Well, that's one of the Winchesters rules, you don't lock the door to the bathroom. Why do you ask?"

"Let's just say, she opened the door and saw me in all my glory." Dean smirked, coming out of the bathroom, now fully dressed.

"Dean this isn't funny, I think I'm scarred for life now."

"Well, next time knock!"

"Next time, I will and don't you give me that smirk."

"I'm not giving you a smirk"

"Whatever and why is this a rule."

"Well, when we were kids, dad thought, if we locked the door, something would come in and get us and it would be hard to get to us."

"So, when did that rule come into effect"

"It came into effect, when Samantha here was almost dragged out a hotel bathroom window when he was eleven. Good thing I was strong enough to break the door down and we managed to kill the sucker that was trying to take him.

"So what was it?"

"It was the spirit of an old lady, who was dragged out a window years before and she didn't like being alone."

"Oh I understand now"

"Yeah that spirit managed to break my arm."

"Hey you were a weakling. "

"Whatever, I'm going to bed now." Sam announced, walking back to the bed room and turning off the light. He lay awake, until the voices of his brother and Melinda faded then he fell asleep, until Gracie's crying woke him again.

Getting up, he went over to her crib, asking, "What's wrong, baby?"

His heart felt like breaking, when she cried out, "Momma!"

Holding her arms out to him, Sam picked her up and placed her on his bed, before he turned on the bedside lamp.

"Gracie, want to sleep in the bed with daddy?"Sam asked.

Seeing her nod her head, he placed a pillow on her other side to make sure she wouldn't fall off, while sleeping. Giving her the bear, he snuggled up beside her, before turning off the light and falling back asleep.

This was how Melinda found father and daughter in the morning. Running for her camera, she managed to take a picture of the cute moment.


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: well I still don't own the boys or any other characters nor do I own the show it belong to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my made up characters**

**a/n: thanks to all who is reading. Reviewing, or alerted thank you all**

**BETA: the awesome Vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOO**

**Thanksgiving day**

The Singer house was like on any other day, although today, well today was a day to eat turkey. Yet in this household they would celebrate it differently, they would order and eat pizza, pie and any other junk food, till they couldn't eat anymore and then they would watch the football game.

"So how do you guys celebrate Thanksgiving again?" Mel asked, walking into the kitchen with Gracie and noticing the boxes of pizza and pie and other foods on the table.

"Well, we eat till someone almost passes out and then watch football." Jared answered, taking a slice of pizza.

"Oh and last time you celebrated, who passed out?"

"Let's say that one over there!"Jared pointed to Dean.

"Dean was the one, what did he do?"

"He ate pie to the point, he couldn't eat anymore and another year before that, he hurled up his pie and it was disgusting."

Just then the front door opened and Stella walked in with a boy.

"Hey dad, you remember my boyfriend Jake?"

"Oh right, how you doing Jake? I haven't seen you in a while." Bobby said, getting up from the couch.

"I was busy in school lately."

"Hold it, Stella has a boyfriend?" Dean asked, looking at the kid.

"Uh oh, here comes the protectiveness now. Jake already got the 'don't break her heart' speech from Jared." Bobby told him, taking a slice of his pizza.

"Ok good, how long you two been together?" Dean asked.

"For two years, off and on."

"Dean, leave her alone, she knows what she is doing." Sam ordered, as he walked into the living room with a plate full of pizza and Gracie trailing behind him with her the teddy bear.

"Awe, who is this cute little kid?" Jake asked when Gracie walked past him.

"Oh, that's my daughter, her name is Gracie." Sam replied, about to take a bite of his pizza.

"I have a sister, she is three years old."

Right then Charlotte, Jared girlfriend, came in and he got up to give her a hug.

"Hey dad, I'm going over to Charlotte's house for Thanksgiving, I'll be back for the eating contest."

"Ok, you better or Dean will win again this year."

"Ok" Jared said, as he left with his girlfriend.

Ten minutes into the football game the channel was suddenly changed and when everyone looked around, they noticed Gracie was playing with the remote control.

"Gracie, baby can we have the remote back?" Sam pleaded

"No" Gracie stated, running out the room with it.

"Well, are we just going to sit here or are we going to get it from her?" Dean asked.

"I think the second option." Stella replied.

Once they came up with a plan, all of them got up and went looking for the little one, who turned out to be one sneaky one year old. It was Dean, who caught her eventually.

"Alright, can we please have the remote back?" The older Winchester asked in a nice way.

After giving it to him, Sam placed her in the play pen, where she eventually fell asleep. It was soon after that the Harvelles arrived.

"I hope we aren't late for the eating contest." Bill wondered, walking in with several boxes of pies

"No you're in time. Hey, is that pie I smell?"

"Dean has to be the only one, who can smell pie from a mile away." Jo grinned as she walked in with Ian, who was carrying a bag.

"What's in the bag?" Stella wondered.

"Oh, this is some stuff for Gracie that this one picked out at the deli on our way here."

"Mommy says I can pickie it for her, but she is sleepy."

"You can give it to her later, when she wakes up" Sam promised.

"Okie"

"So, who is winning so far?" Paul asked, sitting down on the couch.

"Patriots 2 and Saint Louis 4 and it's the second half." Jake spoke up.

"Cool"

"Hey are Jim and Caleb coming over?" Dean asked.

"Jim coming tomorrow, since he has to do a Thanksgiving sermon and Caleb is on a hunt with some buddies of his, so he will be here in two days.

While the men were inside watching the game, some of the women went outside to talk.

OOOOOOOOO

"So how do you two know Sam and Dean?" Melinda asked, sitting down on the porch swing.

"I met John, when he came to help Bill out on a hunt, along with Jim and Paul's dad and Caleb. That was a few years back, when John kids and Jo where younger."

"Did everyone come out alive?"

"Sadly, the creature they were hunting killed Paul father."

"Mind me asking what they were hunting?"

"Some hell spawn at a camping ground that was terrorizing local campers."

"Oh"

"How you know Sam?" Jo spoke up.

"Oh well, my cousin Jessica was suppose to marry Sam next summer."

"Oh my goodness, poor thing, at least he has that little one to keep him happy." Ellen replied.

"So, I hear that you're a hunter also." Jo said

"Yeah, I have been since I was eighteen years old."

Just then Stella came out onto the porch, followed by Jared, arriving home with a bag.

"Hey, my dad wanted me to let you all know that it's time for the eating contest."

"Ok, we will be inside in a minute." Ellen told her.

OOOOOOOO

Once everyone got inside, they all walked towards the kitchen, where four chairs and a whole bunch of pie was placed at.

"Ok, so who is brave enough to go up against Dean?" Bobby asked, as everyone crowded around the table.

"I'm all for it." Paul challenged.

"I'm up for beating my god brother." Jared challenged.

"Sure, I'm up for it also." Melinda challenged.

"Whoa, you can't beat me." Dean challenged back;

"Ok you want a bet?"

"Bring it on!"

"Oh, I'll bring it."

"Ok, everyone get ready." Bobby warned.

Once everyone got into place and Bobby told them the rules, he counted to three then he said go.

Paul only managed to eat four pies and Jared got to five pies, before running out the kitchen feeling sick. The only ones left were dean and Melinda and so far it was going good.

"Wow, I think Dean has met his match." Ellen gawked out.

"I don't know what's more terrifying, seeing Dean eat like that or seeing him being challenged by Melinda?" Jo was torn.

"I don't know, but I hope ..." before Sam could finish talking, Dean shockingly couldn't eat anymore.

"Oh my goodness Dean, you have four pies left." A shock Jo called out.

"I think, I ate too much right now and..." before Dean could say anymore, he bolted out the kitchen.

"Wow, he only ate 15 pies." Bobby counted the pans.

"Melinda you can stop now." Ellen demanded.

Just as she said it Ian and Gracie with her teddy bear walked in, closely followed by Jared, who he ended up running back out, once he spotted the pies.

"I guess that this is the last time Jared wants to see any pie;" Bill laughed, who was sitting beside his wife

"I don't blame him. Oh look, who is back."

"So Dean, how is it losing to a girl?" Melinda laughed out.

"Oh, just laugh it up, but I will get you back at something."

"Sure Dean, oh look more pie." She teased.

"I'm going to be sick, but I can't be mad at you forever." He replied, grabbing the pie out of her hand.

After the pie eating everyone went back to the living room, except Sam and Ellen, who needed to talk.

OOOOOOOO

"Sam, you need to talk to me about something?" Ellen asked, shooing Ian out of the kitchen.

"Well, I need you to read this letter and see if you knew anything about this."

"Sure, let me see it." She said.

Once he handed her the letter, she read it and from where he was sitting, he could clearly see by the expression on her face, that she had no idea about this.

"Oh my goodness Sam, I didn't know that Alisa gave birth to a baby and that it's yours."

"So she never told you anything about it either."

"No, but that's not like her. Alisa always came to me, if she needed to talk about something or she would talk to Jo since they were best friends and very close."

"I think she was afraid, what would happen, if she told anyone and that the baby might be in danger." Jo threw in, walking into the kitchen.

"Jo, how much did you hear?"

"Enough to know, my best friend that I haven't seen since 2003 had a kid."

"Jo, honey what would you have done then, if you had known?"

"I would have kicked some common sense into her and told her to keep the baby, but I'm not her and I think if I would have been in her place then I would have done the same thing."

"Jo, how did you do it, when you found out you were having Ian?"

"Well, I had some thoughts about what I wanted, but in the end I got help from my parents and Paul was there for us and now I don't hunt that much, so Ian is safe."

"I think, for Alisa it was different, she didn't have a stable place or a family to help. It was only her and her father."

"Sam, I think you shouldn't worry about this anymore, she is in a home that will take good care of her."

"Hey Sam, maybe one day you will be able to see her. Did she send you a picture?" Jo asked, while cleaning up all the mess in the kitchen.

"Yeah, she did." Sam answered, taking out his wallet and removing the picture from it, before handing it to Ellen.

"Oh Sam she is beautiful!"

"Thanks Ellen, I think I'm going to go, watch the game." He replied, excusing himself out the room.

"Poor Sam, it must be hard finding out that he has another kid out there by the girl he used to love."

"Mom, they were together for like three years and they loved each other, but they had their ups and downs also. It broke her heart, when she had to break up with him, so he could go live his dream."

"I know! No more talking, more cleaning, if we want to watch the end of the game."

OOOOOOOO

After the game finished, the Patriots won, everyone sat in the living room eating the cake Ellen picked up at the deli on her way over and watched Ian and Gracie play together.

"Awe, don't they look cute playing together?" Stella asked, walking over to the kids and handing them each a piece of the cake.

"Yeah, they do, now Ian has a playmate to have fun with" Jo stated.

Just then the phone rang and Stella went pick it up, returning a few seconds later.

"It's for you, Sam, someone by the name Kate Moore."

"Oh, that's Jess' mother, I'll take it" The youngest Winchester replied, walking out the room.

While everyone else was busy cooing over the kids, Sam was in the kitchen talking to the Moore's.

OOOOOOOO

"Hello, Mrs. Moore."

"_Hi Sam, how are you and my granddaughter doing?" Kate asked on the other side of the line._

"I'm getting a little better and Gracie is doing fine."

"T_hat's good; it will take time for all of us to get over Jessica's death."_

"Yeah, I know what you mean, but taking care of Gracie is helping me kind of get over the depression that I feel."

"_Sam that little girl needs all the love she needs. I feel the same way but I'm getting help"_

"Gracie lights up any body she sees."

"_I know, Sam I got to go, some of my friends are over to carve the turkey. I just wanted to call and say 'Happy Thanksgiving' and see how you are doing."_

"Thanks for calling; I'll send you a picture of Gracie when I get a chance"

"_Thank you Sam, you're a good father. I would love a picture of her. I really got to go."_

"Ok and good day to you." Sam hung up the phone and went back into the living room.

OOOOOOO

A few hours later every one left and Mel and Stella were cleaning up the living room, when Sam walked past and almost slipped on a wrapper on the floor, making Stella burst out laughing.

"Oh, that is funny, I wish I had my camera." She laughed.

"Stella, that isn't funny, I could have hurt myself."

"I'm sorry Sam, but I can't help myself."

Just then dean walked in, trying to figure out what was all the laughter about.

"Hey, what happened in here?"

"Your brother was almost taken out by a wrapper." Mel explained, putting the extra pie in the refrigerator.

"The only person I know to almost get taken out by a wrapper and it's my brother" The older Winchester laughed.

"Laugh it up; I'm heading upstairs to give Gracie a bath before bed" Sam said, halfway out the room already, when Dean spoke up.

"Ok, but don't trip over anything else!" He ordered, giving Mel a wink.

"Is there something you want Dean." Mel asked, washing the table.

"Well now that you ask, there is something." He replied, walking over to her.

"The answer is no and I don't think so. I know your kind, so you better quit, while you're ahead." She suggested, leaving the room.

"Smooth move Dean, your charm got turned down this time."

"Stella, don't you have to do something?"

"Oh yeah, I do and before I go, say cheese!" She said taking a picture of Dean's disappointed face.

"Hey, give that to me." He demanded trying to get the camera from her but was unable to accomplish his goal.

"Sorry Dean, good night."

OOOOOOO

Walking upstairs, Stella heard the distinct noises of Gracie and Sam in the bathroom and walked towards the sounds, laughing at what she saw.

"I see, she likes to splash people, I gave her a bath while you were gone and I got soaked."

"Oh hey, Stella didn't see you come in. Yeah, she tends to splash people." Sam replied, while washing Gracie hair.

"Sam, I know this might be a hard topic to talk about, but how did you celebrate Thanksgiving while you were in school?" She asked, walking over to the little chair in the corner of the bathroom.

"The first year was spent in school studying, but Brady showed up and took me to his family's house to celebrate.

"Who is Brady?" She wondered.

"Brady is a friend of mine; he dropped out second year of college and joined the army to fight overseas after 9/11."

"Oh, that's brave of him and how did you spend the other Thanksgivings?"

"Well, second year I spent it with Jessica at her parent's house, but not much celebrating occurred." He replied, taking Gracie out of the tub and putting her PJ's on and walking out the bathroom and to the guest bedroom, placing Gracie in it her crib with a sippy cup for her to drink, Stella trailing behind and sitting down on the bed.

"Sam, what you mean by that?" She asked with concern.

"If I tell you please, don't tell anyone else, I don't like reliving these events." Sam asked, sitting down next to her.

"Sure, pinky promise." She raising her pinky and locked it with Sam's, "Ok, now go ahead.

"The second year of college Jess got pregnant and everything was fine, until she lost the baby on November 2nd." Sam looked at Gracie sleeping.

"Oh my god, Sam I'm so sorry. I guess Jess and you weren't the same after that."

"No, not really, Jess was depressed for a while, but she got better and then she found out she was pregnant with Gracie but some of those fears where still there."

"How far along was Jess with the first child?"

"She was six months along, when we lost it. Then during junior year of college Thanksgiving was spent in the hospital as well.

"What happen then?"

"Gracie came six months premature, on November 2nd" Sam replied, picking up some of his daughters toys from the floor.

"Ummm Sam, do you see a connection or pattern here?" Stella wondered, realizing that this had to be somehow connected.

"No, why do you ask?"

"Umm never mind. Anyway Sam, that's in the past now, look for the future, you have her to take care of."

"I hope so; taking care of her is my priority and so is looking for this demon."

"This demon is always ruining people's lives and now she has to be part of the club."

"What club?" The youngest Winchester questioned.

"The club we formed three years before you left." she replied with a duh expression.

"Oh, you mean the kids without mothers club." Sam stood and placed the blanket he got from the apartment on Gracie.

"Yeah, that one. Hey, see you in the morning; I got to get some sleep. Jake and my best friend are coming in the morning, but it was nice sitting down and talking like the old days."

"Yeah, it was, good night."

"You to, see ya!" She called out, getting off the bed and giving Sam a hug good night.

After she left, Sam got ready for bed and checked on Gracie one last time, before going to sleep. A few hours later Sam awoke to Gracie crying for Jessica.

"Baby, are you ok, you want to sleep with daddy again?" He cooed, trying to calm his daughter down. Once she nodded, he placed her on the bed beside himself and turned off the light, going back to sleep.

**Author's note: the conversation between Sam and Stella about the two kids was creepy when I did the math. Jess found out she was pregnant with Gracie April 2004 so it is 6 mths when she was born. Also don't worry things will be answered as we go along**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: sadly I still don't own the winchesters or anyone else nor do I won the show. It belong to kripke and the cw. I do own my own characters **

**a/n: thanks to everyone who reviewed, read or alerted this story thank you all so much**

**BETA: the wonderful Vonnie836 thanks for all your help**

**OOOOOOOOOOOO**

**Three days later**

Sam awoke to his daughter cooing and someone pinching his nose. So when he opened his eyes, he realized it was Gracie, who had her hand on his nose.

"Hey baby, you ok?" He asked, getting out the bed, taking her with him and walking downstairs to the kitchen, where Mel is preparing breakfast.

"Hey Mel, good morning."

"Hey Sam, let me guess, she woke up again last night?" A concerned Mel questioned him.

"Yeah she did, but there isn't anything wrong with her. She keeps calling for momma and I wish I could make her understand that Jessica isn't coming back." Sam explained sadly, while feeding Gracie some oatmeal.

"I don't know what to tell you, I'm sure she will stop eventually." The young woman said, just as Pastor Jim walked in.

"Sam, how are you doing?" Jim walked over to him and hugged him.

"Hey Jim, when did you get here?" The youngest Winchester asked.

"I got here last night. How are things lately?"

"It's getting better day by day" Sam replied, shrugging his shoulders and wiping Gracie mouth with a napkin.

"Well the key thing here is that you get better, but it will take a while to heal completely from this tragedy."

"I know, thanks for being at the funeral, it meant a lot" He replied, looking at Jim "You missed Caleb, he left yesterday on a hunt up in Maine"

"Oh well, I'll see him another time." The clergy stated, walking over to the coffee maker and pouring some coffee in a cup.

At that moment Stella walked in with Jake and her best friend, who looked like she was a few seconds from running out of the house

"Hey Sam, I want you to meet my best friend Emma. Emma, this is my god brother Sam and his cute daughter Gracie." She introduced her best friend to Sam.

"Hi Emma, are you ok?" Sam asked, noticing how scared she looked.

"Hi and no."

"What's wrong Emma?" Pastor Jim pried.

"She is scared about something!"

"What is it Emma? You can tell me, it will be between us and stay in this kitchen."

"Look at the time; I'll leave you all to what you have to talk about." Sam said, leaving the room with Gracie and Melinda to give the others some space.

Once they were gone, Stella continued, "Are you sure Jim?"

"Yes, I am, go ahead and tell me." Jim pushed gently, trying to find out why Emma was so upset.

"Stella, can you tell him, please?" Emma begged, too scared to tell him.

"Ok well, two days ago Emma found out she is pregnant and her parents kicked her out the house and now she has nowhere to go." Stella revealed.

"Oh dear, what are you going to do Emma?" Jim asked.

"Well, I want to know what the right thing to do is." She said, breaking out in tears.

"What do you feel you want?"

"I'm only sixteen years old and I still have things I haven't done yet"

"Emma, do you feel that you don't want this child? How about the father, does he want it?"

"Yes he does and I kinda want it to, but I have nowhere to go."

"Let me talk to a few people I know in the area and Bobby too and see, if he would take you in."

"Thank you Pastor Jim for helping her, we got to go, we're heading out for the day." Stella told him, leaving with Jake and Emma, who now looked calmer and more upbeat.

"Not a problem." The pastor replied, fixing himself more coffee, when Bobby and Dean walked into the kitchen.

"Hey ace, how are things going with looking for John?"

"Not so well, but dad called a few days ago, after we finished the hunt in Colorado." Dean replied, while pouring a cup of coffee."

"He did, what did he say?"

"He didn't say much, which gives us even more of a reason to look for him."

"Hey ace, why don't you go check on your brother, I have to talk to Bobby for a few minutes"

"ok sure, if you need me, just yell my name" The older Winchester said, while leaving the room.

OOOOOOOOO

"What the heck is Gracie watching?" Dean asked when he walked into the living to see a purple dinosaur on the Television.

"Hi to you too!" Sam replied sarcastically at hearing his brother comment on what his daughter is watching.

"If you must know, it's barney." Melinda educated him.

"Oh joy, why is she watching this? Dammit…" He called out at accidentally bumping into the coffee table; soon he regretted his words, when Gracie tried to copy him.

"Da'it" She squealed, her attention no longer on the television screen.

"Dean next time you have to curse, either hold it in or leave the room. Now you made her say it."

"Hey I can't control what I say and she is only a little baby."

At that Jared walked past, tripping over a shoe on his way to the kitchen.

"Shit, this freaking hurts, who the heck left their shoes in the middle of the hall?" He yelled.

"Shit," The toddler squealing repeated the word.

"Baby, please don't say this anymore" Sam begged, trying to get his daughter not to repeat any of the words she heard from others.

"No" Gracie screech, grabbing a chunk of Sam hair and pulling on it.

"Bro, I guess you got your answer." Dean laughed at his niece's response and action.

"Ouch baby stop pulling my hair." The younger man almost yelled, regretted it as soon as she started crying. "Awe, I didn't mean it come here."

He opened his arms hoping she would come to him, instead she ran to Melinda, who was sitting on the couch.

"I see. she picked her favorite person." Mel smiled, picking her up.

Just then Bobby and Jim came in, followed by a slightly limping Jared.

"What's going on dad, why did you want me to follow you?" Jared asked, sitting down on the couch.

"I need to talk about Stella's best friend Emma."

"What's wrong with her?"

"Just listen and after I finish you can asked questions, if you have any." Bobby said.

"Ok"

"Emma is pregnant and needs a place to stay, so she is staying here tonight and the Jackson's will come over tomorrow, after they talked to Billy and set things up. She is going to stay with them."

"What, Emma is pregnant? Oh Billy is in so much trouble, he is only sixteen years old, his parents are going to freak when they find out." A shocked Jared called out.

"They already did when I called them, but they calmed down and listened to what I had to say."

"Bobby, I'll tell you one thing, you better watch out for Stella so she doesn't end up like Emma." Mel threw in, rocking Gracie, who was clapping her hands to the music on the TV.

"I'm not too worried about her. Stella is a smart girl, I trust her."

"Oh Sammy, you have some worrying to do when Gracie gets older."

"Thanks dean for your concern, but she is only one year old, so I'm not worried yet." Sam replied, having mixed emotions about what his brother said.

After the talk Sam took Gracie up for a bath, while Mel helped Bobby out in the den reshelving books, when Stella and Emma came home.

"Hey dad what's going on?" Stellar looked at them fixing the den.

"Oh hi pumpkin, what are you doing today?" Bobby walked over to the couch and sat down next to his daughter.

"We went to town just to hang out." Stella replied, looking at her best friend.

"Emma, I talked to the Jacksons, Billy's parents and at first they were mad, but then they agreed to take you in."

"Thank you Mr. Singer for helping me." Emma thanked him.

"It's ok, I hope you take care of that child you have growing inside of you."

" I will now that I have help. Stella, can we go up to your room to talk?"

"Sure" Stella responded, taking her to her room, while Bobby went back to work.

OOOOOOO

"I tell ya, I would kill for a hunt right about now." Dean complained, sitting on the couch, while Jared was channel surfing.

"You're lucky, you're able to hunt. I'm grounded for two weeks and no hunts, all because I broke my sister's picture of our mother.

"You're screwed man." The older man replied.

Just then bobby walked in with a laptop in hand, with Sam trailing behind him.

"Well you're in luck, there is a hunt in Wisconsin."

"Now we're talking, so what is it about." Dean asked.

"Read it for yourself." The salvage yard man replied, handing him the laptop with an orbit page.

He took the it and read the headline in the orbit.

"_Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin_

_Sophie Carlton, 18 years old daughter of Carl and Leslie Carlton, sadly disappeared while out swimming and never returned. Divers searched the whole lake for her without finding anything. She is the third person drowning in Lake Manitoc this year. _

_Two months earlier Ricky Carlton, 12 years old and his best friend Mike Richards went missing while out for a swim. They too, were never found and their families are desperate to find answers to who is doing this and why this is happening._

_As of now neither of the other bodies was found either._

"They held a funeral or actually it was a memorial service for her." Dean finished up reading the article.

"If they had a funeral, what did they bury" Sam wondered, picking up Gracie and hugging her.

"Maybe stuff people remembered her by and some other things for closure." His brother answered shrugging.

"Closure, dean what closure? People don't just disappear, others stop looking for them."

"What is with you is there something you want to say to me or these other lovely people in the room?"

"Hey, don't even think about getting me involved in this and to prove my point I'm leaving." Jared said, running out the room, before a fight ensued. Bobby followed him, also not wanting to get in the middle of the boy's argument.

"The trail for Dad, it's getting colder every day. Even though he called, we don't know where he is.

"So what are we supposed to do? Stay here and do nothing?"

"I don't know! Something, anything…"

"Sam you need to change the attitude you've been having ever since we came back from Colorado. I'm getting sick of it and heck, so is everyone else."

"You know what; I'll take the baby, so you two can hash things out." Mel hurried to say, taking Gracie out of the room.

Yeah, I know you do. It's just –" Sam began to try and justify his frustration, but Dean cut him off.

"I'm the one that's been with him every single day for the past four years, while you've been off to college going to pep rallies, parties, making a family " He bit out, letting just a hint of his own bitterness showing through. "We will find Dad, but until then, we're going to kill everything bad between here and there. Okay?"

Sam stood up and moved towards his brother with anger, not saying anything else. He just stared at him.

"Sam, you're not the only one with issues, but you need to control your anger and attitude and concentrate on taking care of Gracie and helping me find dad and this demon."

"It's just hard sometimes."

"Well, next time you forget I'll kick your ass so you remember."

"So what we do now"

"We have a hunt to go on and I think we should head out tomorrow to do it."

"Yeah, you're right." Sam replied, sitting back down on the couch, when Bobby showed up with Gracie wearing his hat.

"Bobby, what did she do, beat you up and take your hat?" Dean laughed, trying to change the atmosphere in the room.

"No, you damn idjit, she took it off me in the kitchen and I was about to take it back, but she was on the verge of crying, so I let her wear it."

"I'll give it back to you later." Sam assured him, reaching for her, as she was walking towards him.

"Yeah, we'll give it to you later old man." Dean was still laughing.

"Keep it up and you're getting a spanking."

"You're not serious and I'm too old for one." The older Winchester teased, trying to figure out, if their friend was serious or not.

"Try me and you'll see" Bobby challenged with a smile.

"I better not, I'm going to go eat something, I'm hungry." He said, leaving the room.

Once Dean was gone Bobby confronted Sam.

"So, how do you really feel about this hunt" He asked, watching him play with his daughter

"I don't know, but this hunt deals with kids getting hurt and disappearing."

"Sam, I'm in the same boat with you. These hunts that deal with kids getting hurt make me realize that these could be my kids getting hurt. But you can't show your emotions or it will make the hunt harder for you."

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. Bobby, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Well, when your wife died, how did you feel?" He asked, fearing that he was crossing into dangerous waters. Only when bobby answered, did he felt better.

"It was hard, because Jared was only six and Stella four and they would be growing up without a mother, but they grew up ok and are doing fine."

"I'm talking about you Bobby, how did you feel?"

"To tell you the truth, it felt like my whole world had blown up around me and if it hadn't been for your dad showing up when he did, then I don't know what I would have done. Why you ask Sam?"

"Does it get better over time? I mean the 'lose you' experience?" He asked, tickling Gracie, until she started to laugh and squeal with delight.

"It takes a while for the pain to go away, but Sam, you'll get over it, if not for you then for this little one."

"Thanks, for talking to me."

"Nonsense Sam, you're like a son or nephew to me and I'm glad I can help."

"So, I have one more thing to ask Bobby."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Would you like to be Gracie's godfather?"

"Sam, are you sure?" The older man asked, shocked by Sam naming him as Gracie's godfather.

"I'm sure. Bobby you've been here for me, since I was 10 years old."

"Well then yes, I would love to be the little ones godfather, but now excuse me, I have to go check on Stella and her friend"

"Ok and let Dean know, he can come in now."

"Sure thing." Bobby left the room, as Dean came in.

"Ok, how much did you hear?" Sam wondered.

"Enough to know you're having doubts about this hunt, but it comes with the territory."

"Yeah I know, I'll be alright with it now."

"Hey and maybe while we're looking for dad, we might be able to look for Alisa also and see if she is still in the state."

"We could, but let's just look for dad and this demon then look for Alisa."

"Yeah, you're right and..." Before Dean could finish his sentence, Jared walked in with a piece of pie.

"Where did you get that from?" Dean asked.

"Damn Dean, you're practically drooling over the pie. It's in the kitch..." Dean ran out, before he could say anymore.

"Ok, next time I'll make sure and eat the pie in the kitchen.

After the afternoon chaos and stuff, everyone sat down to eat dinner and dessert. Then Sam took Gracie out to the porch, to spend some time with her.

"Look at the little birdie, baby. Can you say birdie?"

"Boodie" Gracie tried repeat the word.

"Awe, she is so cute, when she tries to talk." Stella and Mel walked towards Sam.

"Hey, where is Emma?" Sam wondered.

"She is sleeping, a whole lot of that will be going on since she is pregnant."

"So, how are you taking it, since your best friend revealed this to you?"

"I'm shocked, but I'm ok with it and she has support from everyone, besides her crazy catholic parents."

"Well, not everybody's parents agree with things." Mel said, taking Gracie and tickling her and getting a response from her.

"So I heard from my dad that Gracie is my god sister now"

"Yeah it's true." Sam replied.

"That's cool. I got to go inside and help my dad with some research stuff"

"Ok, good night, if I don't see you later"

"Ok" She replied, walking back inside the house.

"So, you and Dean are heading down to Wisconsin tomorrow?" Mel asked.

"Yeah we are."

"I think it's a good idea, get out of the house and calm your nerves down."

"I see you also noticed my mood, since we came back from our last hunt."

"Yeah and how you got a little upset on Thanksgiving, but I understand it's only been a couple of weeks since you lost Jess.

"Yeah, sorry for that." Sam said, picking up Gracie and playing peek-a-boo with her.

"It's alright Sam, you're trying to be a good dad for her."

"I'm trying my best and the thing is, I don't want to be like my dad."

"You tell dean this?" Mel asked, watching Sam and Gracie playing together.

"Yeah, like I'm going to tell him that. Hey Dean, there are days I fear I will be like dad right after mom died."

"Ok not a good idea, but you're trying your best and what you have that your dad probably didn't, is family surrounding you."

"I don't know, but I'm heading inside and getting ready for tomorrow now, do you want to hold her for a while?" Sam asked, placing Gracie in her arms.

"Sure, I'll take her up to bed in a while." She responded, watching him go inside.

"You're cute you know that, but... before Mel could continue, Dean interrupted her.

"Yeah I know."

"What do you want Dean? If you're coming out here to hit on me then go hit on a tree, because I'm not falling for your stupid advances." She inquired, bouncing Gracie on her knees.

"I'm hurt by that and no, I came out to hang with my niece. Is that a crime?"

"No, here I'm going inside, so bye" Mel retorted, handing Gracie over to him.

Once she was gone, Dean looked over at Gracie, "She is one tough cookie, isn't she?" He asked, watching her play with her bear.

After Dean played with his niece for a while, it started to get dark, so he went inside where Stella, Emma and Jared where watching TV and throwing popcorn at each other. Bobby was in the kitchen making some calls, while Jim was sitting next to him. Dean walked upstairs to find Sam looking out the window.

"Anything interesting outside?" He questioned, startling his brother.

"Sheesh man, you scared the crap out of me!" Sam called out then regretted it, when Gracie repeated the word.

"Cap" She squealed, clapping her hands and throwing her bear at Sam, who caught it.

"I think it's time for bed for you." The youngest Winchester smiled, taking his daughter from Dean and giving her a sippy cup, he had ready for her on the table, before placing her on the bed

"Hey Sammy, see you bright and early in the morning, I'm heading to take a bath" Dean told him, halfway out the door already.

"Yeah, see ya then."Sam said.

"Ok little one, time for you to close your eyes."Sam said to Gracie, who was on the verge of sleeping, when a scream from the hallway made her start to cry. Picking her up, he went out to see what is going on, only to find Mel in a towel, yelling at Dean.

"I'm going to kill you for walking in the bathroom." She yelled, being restrained by Stella.

"Whoa Dean, what you do now?" Sam asked.

"I knocked and no one answered, so I walked in, getting one big surprise, when I did" His brother answered, looking over at Mel with a smirk.

"You're so dead, Dean Winchester."

"Hey what is going on up here?" Bobby bellowed over the noise.

"I'll tell you what happened; Dean thought it was funny to walk into the bathroom without knocking."Mel explained.

"Is that true Dean?" Bobby inquired.

"Hey, it was an accident, I did knock."

"Ok, whatever…" Melinda said.

"Dean, tell her you're sorry and next time knock on the door and wait for an answer. If I ever hear screaming like this again, it better be for a dire situation not for hooligans.

"Fine, I'm sorry Mel."

"You're forgiven, for now." She responded, walking back into the bathroom and closing the door.

"Oh man, you're so busted for what you did." Sam grinned.

"Hey, it was an honest mistake. I guess the little one finally fell asleep."

After the situation was adverted, Sam went back to the guess bedroom and put Gracie in the crib, making sure she was comfortable, before he went to sleep. That night Gracie didn't wake up crying.

**Authors note: next chapter is dead in the water**


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: sadly I still don't own the boys or supernatural they belong to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my own characters**

**a/n: thanks to all who review, read or alerted this story without you all this story wouldn't be possible**

**BETA: the awesome Vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOOOO**

**The next morning**

After getting up and feeding Gracie her breakfast and drinking his third glass of coffee Sam was ready to leave with Dean

"Ok so I see you in a few days. Don't worry; she will be taken really good care of." Mel assured him, while walking him to the Impala, where Dean was already waiting.

"Ok, bye baby, see you in a few days, be good." Sam told Gracie, who gave her dad a wet kiss on the cheek.

"Awe, that's so cute." Mel said, as she watched the scene.

Sam got in the car and waved goodbye to his daughter then they were off to Wisconsin.

OOOOOOOO

"So the boys left?" Bobby asked Melinda, when she returned to the living room with Gracie.

"Yep" She replied, placing the toddler on the bean bag chair and turning the television on to Barney, when Stella and Emma came downstairs

"Hey dad, are the Jackson's here yet?" Stella wondered.

"No, they will be here around noon, so you have time to clean your room."

"Come on dad, do I have to?" The teenager complained.

"Yes, you do!" Her father ordered.

"Ok fine, come on Emma." She replied, leaving the room followed by her friend.

"Oh, how I remember when I was like that, not wanting to clean my room."

"You should see Jared room, it's a disaster, looks like a tornado hit his room." Bobby smiled, before he continued, "Mel you ok in here, I'm going into town to meet with some friends, I will be back by noon"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

After the hunter left, the young woman sat down in the living room and watched TV with Gracie until she fell asleep then she put her in the play pen, while she went to call her sister.

OOOOOOOOOO

**Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin**

The Impala pulls up outside the Carlton's house. Sophie's brother and sister, Will and Tina Carlton, answered the door to Dean's knock.

"Hi, I'm Agent Ford, this is Agent…Hamill. We're with the US Wildlife Service."

"What you guys want?"

"Can we talk to your parents?"Dean asked.

"Sure whatever, follow me." Will led them to the back of the house, where Bill and Leslie where sitting by the dock.

"Before I take you to my parents, there's something you should know, my sister couldn't have drowned. Sophie was a varsity swimmer; she grew up in that lake.

"We'll take that into account" Dean stated, following the boy with Sam lacking behind slightly.

"Mom, dad, there is someone here to talk to you two."

"Ok Will, go back inside with your little sister."

"Yeah ok." He replied, walking back up the path towards the house.

"Let me guess, you're here about my daughter?"

"Yes we are!" Sam answered.

"Well, I'll tell you, what I told everyone else. Something dragged her down and that she didn't drown."

"Mrs. Carlton, did you witness you daughter getting dragged under?"

"My son Will and I did and I immediately called the police."

"Did you see any dark shadows in the water, any shapes that breached the surface?"

"None that I can remember, I was too far to see anything."

"Did you or your son see any strange tracks by the shoreline?" Dean asked.

"No, but what do you think is out there?" Mrs. Carlton questioned.

"We'll let you know, as soon as we do." Dean told her.

After the conversation with the Carton's, they headed to the sheriff's office to see if they could find any more information.

OOOOOOOOOO

"So what do a bunch of Wildlife Service Agents care about an accidental drowning?" Sheriff Jake Devin's wondered, reasonably enough.

"How sure are you that it was an accidental drowning? There are two witnesses that say otherwise." Sam said.

"Let me tell you, what I told the Carlton's, there isn't any carnivorous animal in that lake and nothing that big to pull someone under.

"Are you sure?" Dean spoke up.

"I'm sure Will and his mother are traumatized and that the mind can play tricks on you. My department dragged that lake and found nothing, not even a corpse.

"Isn't it strange, how this is the sixth missing body this year?" Dean continued to pry.

"I agree, these people are from my town and I care about them. Anyway all this won't be a problem much longer, the dam is falling apart and the stupid feds won't give us the grant to repair it, so they've opened the spillway. In another six months, there won't be much of a lake. Won't be much of a town either, but as Federal Wildlife, you already knew that."

"Oh yeah, we know all about that." Dean hurried to reply, trying to play it cool.

Just then a young woman walked into the department, interrupting them, before Jake could question them any further.

"Hi honey, how you doing and why are you here?" The sheriff asked.

"I brought you food. Oh hello, I didn't know you had guests."

"Boys, this is my daughter Andrea Barr and her son"

"Hi, they are here for what?" Andrea asked.

"They are here about the lake."

"Sad thing that happened out in that lake."

Just then the little boy poked his head out from behind his mother, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Hey there, what's your name?" Dean asked, but the boy retreated from the room, without answering or even looking at him. Andrea, looking worried and apologetic, followed her son without a word.

"Sorry about that, Lucas is my grandson and he's been through a lot. We all have."

"I think we have enough information, so we'll be out of your hair." Dean replied.

Jake saw the boys out, passing Andrea, who was getting Lucas settled with paper and coloring crayons.

"Do you know where the nearest hotel is?" Dean asked her, while watching her hand Lucas crayons and a piece of paper. It made Dean remember 22 years ago and how he almost could see himself in Lucas.

"I could tell you, but I have a feeling you'll have a problem finding it. Dad can you watch Lucas, while I take these two to the motel, then I'll be back to take him to the park," She said, kissing her son on the cheek.

"Sure, I'll watch him, go ahead.

OOOOOOOOOO

"So, cute kid," Dean cheerfully offered, as Andrea walked them around the corner. "Kids are the best, huh?"

Sam and Andrea both laughed. It was amusing, because it was just harmless flirting. It was fun for him, both entertaining and flattering for her and amused Sam, so it was all good. A few minutes later they made it to the motel.

"Must be hard, with your sense of direction," Andrea remarked, as she left them outside the motel. "Never being able to find your way to a decent pickup line. Next time try something else, if you want to flirt with someone.

Sam was highly entertained, by what is going on "Kids are the best? You don't even like kids."

"I love kids! You just assume I don't" Dean protested.

"Name three children that you even know and if you can I'll pay you 5 bucks" Sam challenged

"Ok well, there are Gracie, Ian, Stella, Jared, Emma, Jake, and ha that is more than three kids, that is six."

"Ok fine, you have a point."

"Darn right I do, now pay up, you owe me 5 dollars."

"Fine" Sam replied, taking his wallet out and giving dean the 5 dollars.

"Oh and next time Sammy, don't pick a challenge you're going to lose." He laughed, entering the motel with his brother following right behind him.

OOOOOOOOOO

Once they booked into a room, Sam went to get washed up while dean went out to get food. By the time he got back Sam was on the laptop doing some research.

He found a list of previous victims spread out over several years and what he found alarmed him.

"Dean, you might want to see this." He called out to his brother.

Walking over to the computer, the older Winchester could see on the screen, why his brother was so alarmed.

"Wow, 15 victims over the years, that is a big number and there are no survivors." Dean mused, going back to eating his hamburger.

"Dean, I think we do have an eyewitness. That little boy, I found an article on Christopher Barr, he must have been married to Andrea and it says that Lucas witnessed his father drowning. He didn't get rescued off his wooden plank for two hours." Sam read the article to Dean, who was preoccupied with his burger, but was listening to what his brother was saying.

"Looks like we have an eyewitness after all," Dean said while munching on his burger and fries. He understood the kid perfectly. "After seeing something like that kill his dad? Man, no wonder the kid was so freaked out…" He murmured, knowing a thing or two about childhood traumas himself and instantly empathizing with the little boy. "Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over. Anyway Sammy, hurry up and eat so we can meet Andrea at the park" He said out loud, while drinking the soda that came with his meal.

"It's Sam and yeah I'll eat, did you bring me my salad?" The younger man asked, looking through the bag

"Nope, that's for chicks and you're a man, so I brought you a chicken sandwich with a side salad"

OOOOOOOOOO

After they finished eating, they went to look for the park. It took them a while to find it, they even had to ask three different people for directions on to how to get there, but eventually they found it and with it Andrea. The young woman was sitting alone on a bench, watching her son.

"Hi, what are you two doing here?" She asked once she spotted them.

"We were out for a walk. May we join you?" Sam wondered.

"Yeah sure, Lucas is over there coloring." She replied, pointing in the direction of Lucas.

"I'll go say hi to him." Dean told her, walking over to the boy.

"Tell your friend this whole Jerry Maguire thing isn't going to work." she told Sam.

"I don't think that's what this is about," The younger Winchester smiled back, sitting down beside her.

"So this might be off topic, but do you have a family? It's just because I see a ring around your neck."Andrea asked him.

"Sadly, she died." Sam swallowed and looked away.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."

"It's ok, I still have my daughter."

"Well at least you and I have something left. After Chris died I had to move on for Lucas' sake, as he just shut off.

"It's hard on kids, when a parent dies.

While Sam and Andrea were talking Dean talked to Lucas.

OOOOOOOOOO

"How's it goin'?" The older Winchester greeted the kid. Lucas didn't even look at him. "I used to love these things." He continued, looking at the army men.

When Lucas still completely ignored him, he tried again, this time sifting through some of the boy's drawings. "So, crayons are more your thing. That's cool, chicks dig artists. Hey, these are pretty good. You mind, if I sit and draw with you for a while? I'm not so bad myself."

Lucas continued to be oblivious to everything around him, as Dean sat down with a crayon and a sheet of paper and started drawing. It wasn't easy to try and reach out to someone this traumatized and withdrawn, especially a child. He kept plugging away at it though, keeping his tone soft and reassuring.

"You know, I'm thinking you can hear me. You just don't want to talk. I don't know exactly what happened to your dad, but I know it was something real bad. I think I know how you feel.

"When I was your age, I saw something…." Dean trailed off, but was brought back to his senses when a ball was thrown his way.

"Sorry mister." A little boy said, picking up the ball and running back to his friends.

Anyway, maybe you don't think anyone will listen to you or, uh, believe you. I want you to know that I will. You don't even have to say anything; you can just draw me a picture about what you saw that day, with your dad, on the lake."

"Okay. No problem." Getting nowhere, despite all his efforts, Dean decided to call it a day – no matter how much they needed the evidence Lucas might be able to provide, there was no sense in pushing it. He showed Lucas the picture he drew, "This is for you. It's my family. That's my Dad and that's…that's my Mom. That's my geek of a brother, that's me and that little figure is my little niece." He sighed. "All right, so I'm a sucky artist. I'll see you around Lucas." Getting off the ground, he headed back to Andrea and his brother.

They talked about what was wrong with Lucas and how the doctor thought he had PTSD, how she moved in with her dad and how they both been through a lot, how he used to be a smart, happy kid but now just kept to himself.

"Kids are strong," Dean reassures her. "You'd be surprised, what they can deal with."

Just then Lucas walked up to them and handed Dean a picture, before going back to what he was doing.

"That's the first time he showed any response to someone. Thank you for talking to him, even if he didn't talk to you."

"You're welcome."

After that, they walked back to the motel to think things through and plan what their course of action should be. In the end, they fell asleep in the middle of it.


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: sadly I still don't own the boys or supernatural they belong to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my own characters**

**a/n: thanks to all who review, read or alerted this story without you all this story wouldn't be possible**

**BETA: the awesome Vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOOOO**

The hunt wasn't going so well, as two more people ended up dead, Will and Carl and his wife went so crazy over what happened, she packed some things and took off with her daughter and other son Nick. Bill drowned in the lake, after having watched three of his own children drown out in the lake over the years and he couldn't take it anymore, while his son Will drowned in the kitchen sink. They figured the lake was the source and that they need to figure out what was going on soon, before more people died. Knowing that they'd gone to the house Lucas had drawn for Dean, and found an old woman longing for the return of her son, Peter Sweeney, who had died thirty years ago.

All this information didn't sit well with Jake, so he kicked them out of town after he found out they weren't real wildlife service men. While at the interstate waiting for the light to change green Dean kept replaying in his head, why Lucas was so scared, until his brother broke him out of his thoughts.

"Dean, the light is green."

The older man looked up and saw it was green, but he instead of going on, he turned the car around and headed back to town.

"Dean, what are you doing, the interstate is the other way."Sam pointed out, "This job, I think it's over."

"I'm not so sure."

"Bill Carlton murdered Peter Sweeney, and he got his revenge, case closed.

"But what if it's not over? What if we missed something, what if we're wrong?"

"Why would you think that?" Sam questioned.

"Because Lucas was really scared and because I don't want to leave town until I know that kid's okay."

"I know he looked scared, I noticed it, when I looked at him. So I agree with you that we should head back."

They got back to the house just in time, as Lucas barged out the door, scared for his life. Staring up at them, his little chest surging in rapid breaths, he shivered in terror.

Dean grabbed his shoulders. "Lucas?" he questioned, as the boy bolted off into the house. The brothers followed without pause, running after him up the stairs.

Water made the floor really slick, leaking from underneath one of the doors. Lucas stopped in front it and pounded on it once, before Dean guessed what was going on and grabbed him, flinging him at Sam and kicking the door in at almost the exact same moment.

Sam raced into the bathroom, plunging his arms fearlessly into the water, searching for Andrea's body, gripping her arms, and pulling with all his strength. Dean stayed back against the wall, protecting Lucas in his arms, the boy being near hysterical and struggling, as the other Winchester pulled Andrea's head out of the tub, allowing her to breathe. He pulled the boy closer to him, not wanting to let him get one step closer to the greenish water, as Sam wrestled with the spirit.

Andrea came out shaken, but fine, yet this didn't compare to what happened next, when they figured out that Jake had been involved in Peter's death. With Lucas's help, they'd found Peter's bike, only to be confronted by his grandfather. They argued, until Andrea noticed Lucas was on the dock.

Sam and Dean sprinted for all it was worth, but Peter had already yanked him into the lake and dragged him under. The Sherriff paused at the end of the dock, but neither he nor Sam broke stride, diving off the end of the dock and straight into the water. Only their desperate urging made Andrea stop on the dock, where she was safe away from the water, where she continued to sob and yell for her son.

His heart pounding frantically in his chest lungs burning, Dean broke the surface of the water, eyes searching Sam's, nothing. He had to save this kid.

"Sam, did you find him?" He screamed frantically.

"No, keep looking; we have to find this kid."

Just then Jake made the ultimate sacrifice by walking into the water and giving himself up

"Jake, NO!" Dean bellowed, but it was too late. Peter yanked him under the water.

Right after that Dean found the boy and wrapping his right arm securely around him, he kicked for the surface, his lungs burning from lack of oxygen. He broke the surface, sucking in a deep breath, praying that Lucas was breathing. Seeing he was, Dean held the boy tight, as he coughed and spluttered and clutched at his wet clothes.

"It's okay Lucas," He panted, swimming back to the dock, where his brother looked like he was going to cry and Andrea was happy to see her son.

"Oh my god, thank you so much, both of you." She sobbed, holding her son, when Lucas made the most beautiful noise

"Mom, you're squeezing too hard. Thank you, can I have something to dry please, I'm cold

"Of course baby." Andrea replied, hugging her son even more, "Thank you both."

"We were just doing our job." Sam said and as Lucas got up and hugged him it brought tears to the young man's eyes. Then the boy went over and hugged Dean.

OOOOOOOOOO

So Lucas was safe now and everything turned out fine. Mrs. Carlton and her two kids returned, but only to get the rest of their stuff. The hunt was over and they saved a bunch of lives.

The boys carried their bags out to the Impala in silence. Just then Andrea and Lucas arrived to see them off, bearing a tray of homemade sandwiches and a box.

"Can I give it to them now?" Lucas asks his mother.

"Of course honey, go right ahead."

"Dean, my mom made these sandwiches and a homemade pie."

The hunter took both things and walked to the car with Lucas, while Sam talked to Andrea about how she was holding up.

"It's just going to take a long time to sort through everything, you know?" she admitted.

"I'm sorry about your dad." Sam told him.

. "You saved my son. I can't ask for more than that. Dad loved me. He loved Lucas. No matter what he did, I just have to hold onto that. I can't let the pain of losing people let me stop living and the same goes for you"

"Yeah, it takes time to get over the people you lose." Sam agreed thoughtfully.

Meanwhile Dean was talking to Lucas, "Alright, now that you are going to talk again, you need to know that this is a very important phrase. So I want you to repeat it back to me one more time."

"Zeppelin rules!" Lucas called out with all his might, receiving a high five from his older friend.

"Ok, now I want you to take care of your mom and be good for her." Dean instructed him, to which Lucas nodded his head.

At that moment Andrea walked up to Dean and kissed him on the lips, leaving him speechless and his brother amused.

"Thank you for what you have done. I hope you both take good care"

"We will." Both promised, getting in the car and driving off, while waving good bye.

OOOOOOOOOO

"I tell you this hunt was an eye opener and an emotional one at that." Sam spoke up, breaking the silence on their way to Bobby's.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, hunts that deal with kids are hard." Dean replied, not taking his eyes off the road.

"To be honest, when I was looking for Lucas, I kept on seeing Gracie and it pushed me even more to find him."Sam said, looking out the window.

"Honestly Sammy, same here."Dean confessed.

"I got to say that sometimes I fear that something will happen to her"

"Sam, what did I tell you? Gracie has us and she will be fine."

"I know that, but still I wonder sometimes" The younger man replied.

"Is there something else bothering you Sammy?" His brother asked, looking him.

"Well, I've been thinking, once everything settles I want to find Ariela."

"Sam, come on, Alisa asked not to look for her and you have to honor that."

"I know that, but I need to find her and see how she is. She is my daughter and I have a right to meet her. Promise me, we will look for her."

"Ok, I'm not promising anything for sure, but we will try." Dean said.

OOOOOOOOOO

A few hours later they made it back to Bobby's house and before Dean could park the car, Sam was already out the car and sprinting towards the house.

When Dean finally got inside, the box of pie in his hands, he watched Sam hugging Gracie like there was no tomorrow.

"Sam, let her go, before you suffocate her with that hugging your doing." Mel advised him with a smile.

"Sorry, it's just, I missed her so much."

"Does this have something to do with the hunt you both were on?" She asked, looking at Dean appearing with the pie box in his arm.

"Yeah it does!" The older Winchester answered her instead of his brother.

"What do you have in the box?" The young woman wondered.

"There is a pie in here." Dean told her.

After filling Bobby in on everything that happened in Wisconsin, they relaxed for a while. Sam lay on the floor most the time, playing with Gracie. Having watched her squeal with joy, he realized when he put her in her crib to sleep later that night, no matter how he looked at things; his daughter simply was a miracle. And hope started to fill him that one day he would find his oldest child and be part of her life also.

**Author's note**: if you like daddy!sam then you'll love daddy!dean then go check out

miles **part**» by **Sassenach082**

What if Dean had led a different life before roping Sam into helping him find John? Follows through the pilot and season one. Part One of my "Another Life" verse. AU.

Go ahead and check it out the story is awesome and its really good


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sam or Dean nor do I own supernatural they belong to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my own characters**

**a/n: thanks to all who reviewed, read or put this on alert thanks you all**

**BETA: the awesome Vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOOOOO**

**The next day**

Dean awoke to the sun bright in his eyes and getting up; he saw the clock read 9 AM. Getting dressed, he walked downstairs to find Mel feeding Gracie, but no Sam in sight.

Slightly confused, he asked, "Hey Mel, do you know where Sammy is?"Grabbing a cup from the cabinet, he filled it up with coffee.

"Sam is still in bed, he woke up not feeling well." She replied, while continuing to feed the toddler her oatmeal.

"I'll go check on him." The older Winchester said, already walking out of the room.

"That uncle of yours is different from all the other guys I've met." Mel told Gracie, who wasn't paying attention to her.

"Hey Mel, where is everyone?" Stella questioned as she walked in.

"Oh, your dad went into town with Jared, Dean is upstairs checking up on Sam, who isn't feeling too well."

"Oh ok, anyway I'm heading to the living room to watch TV." The teenager left, carrying a pack of pop tarts with her.

OOOOOOO

Dean quietly walked towards his brother bedroom and opened the door to find the blankets all over the floor and his brother asleep on the bed. Walking in, he went to wake him up.

"You're the only one I know, who can get sick just by jumping into a lake." He said loudly to make sure he would wake his brother.

"Hey, it's not my fault and by the way, it's not funny."

"Oh sorry Sam, but it is, you have to hear yourself talk, you sound like you swallowed a frog."

Like on command the younger man started to cough and sneeze.

"God kill me now!" He complained.

"No can do Sammy. Anyway I brought you some tissues and I called Bobby to bring home some medicine for you, went he gets back here."

"Thanks, but I'll be ok. Where is Gracie?" Sam asked when he didn't see his daughter in the room.

"She's with Mel and will stay with her until you get better. You don't want her getting sick now do you?" Dean questioned.

"No"

At that moment Bobby walked in with a bag from Walgreens.

"Hey Sam, how are you doing?" He asked, while handing dean the bag and some other stuff.

"I'm ok, I feel much better, so I think I'll get up now."

"Nice try Sammy, but I can tell you're not ok, so tell Bobby the truth."

"Fine, I feel terrible and …" before he could finish, he bolted out of the room and into the bathroom. The next thing the two men heard was the violent emptying of his stomach.

"I don't think this is just a cold, it might be more like a bug."

"Oh great that tends to sometimes spread to others."

"Let's just hope it doesn't happen."

Just then Sam came back and flopped onto the bed staring at the ceiling.

"So what is it, a cold or a bug?" The older Winchester questioned.

"I'm not too sure, it could be both.

"You're probably right, this happened before, when you were six and it wasn't fun for anyone.

"I've got to go ace and Sam, get better soon." Bobby said, leaving the room.

OOOOO

"Hey dad, how is Sam?" Stella wondered, looking up at her dad, when he walked into the living room.

"He is a bit sick with the flu and a cold I think."

"Is that even possible to have the flu and a cold at the same time?" The girl asked.

"I'm not really sure." Bobby answered, just as Melinda walked into the room with Gracie trailing behind her.

"Come here Gracie and play with Uncle Bobby" The old hunter coached, happy when the little girl toddled over and smiled at him.

"Awe, she is so cute when she smiles." Stella cooed.

"She brightens up anyone's day" Mel said, looking at the television.

"What are you watching honey?" Bobby asked, while tickling a squealing Gracie.

"Ok, if I tell you, please don't laugh."

"Why would we laugh?" Mel looked slightly confused.

"I'm watching Gilmore Girls." An embarrassed Stella replied.

Oh, that's a cool show. I've only seen a few episodes that basically was it and I..."before Mel could say anymore, she looked at the television in shock, "…is this, who I think it is?" She continued to stare at the screen, where she saw someone, who looked awfully familiar to her, almost exactly like a certain Winchester she knew.

"Who are you talking about?" Stella asked, looking at the television.

"Ummm...never mind"

"Stella, put it on Sesame Street so Gracie can watch" Bobby ordered.

"Ok dad." The teenager replied, changing the channel, "I'm going to take some orange juice up to Sam"

"How about I do that?" The older woman suggested.

"Alright."

OOOOOOO

"Come on dean, let me go downstairs" Sam begged.

"No can do little brother, besides you're sick and you still sound like you have frogs in your throat and now you also sound, like you have a clothespin clipping your nose shut or something." Dean tossed his brother another box of tissues.

He sniffled and opened the box. "God, I have to sneeze again."

"Again? Well, do me and everyone else that's in this room and house a favor and sneeze into those. Lord knows no one else wants this cold or flu of yours or whatever else you have."

Mel, who had been standing outside the room listening, took that moment to interrupt the brotherly bonding

"Hey Sam, how are you feeling? I brought you some orange juice."

"I've been better, thanks for the juice." The young man said, slowly drinking the juice that she handed him.

"When you get better there is a little girl, who would love to see you."

"How is she?" Sam asked.

"She is downstairs making everyone melt with her smile."

"Yep, she tends to do that."

"So Sammy, want to tell me and Mel here how you caught a cold from jumping in that damned lake? I was in there too, you know." He turned serious and looked at Sam hard.

"You didn't spend four and a half years in a place where it never seems to get cold." Sam wiped his nose and refused to meet Dean's eyes, hoping the explanation would be good enough for him.

"I can relate to that, when I moved from Maine to California, I got sick a lot due to the fact I was changing climates. I barely got sick while growing up in Maine.

"Ok, anyway, I'm also sleeping and eating like a normal person. Sam, you know I'm not much for We-Need-To-Talk-About-This moments, but dude, we need to talk about this. It's... it's making you sick now, man."

Sam sniffled and rubbed at his forehead. "Dean, it's a cold, that's all. It's not as if I'm dying or anything. He held up a long finger and sneezed four times into his elbow.

"Ok, I'm going to go, before you get me sick too. I hope you'll get better." Mel stated, leaving the room.

Just then Dean heard voices and squealing going on outside, so he pulled back the curtains and looked out the window, seeing Stella, Gracie and Bobby playing.

"Right now getting you better is at the top of my list, Sammy. So you can be outside playing with your daughter."

Sam's red, blurry eyes softened and his face lit up. Still, he was firm on one point: "It's Sam, Dean and who is out there?"

"Bobby, Stella and Gracie and you're missing out, so hurry up and get better."

"Dean, a cold doesn't disappear that quick and you know it."

"Ok, whatever you say Sammy."

"Ugh, it's Sam."

"Hey, I'm the older brother and I can call you anything I want." Dean smirked, as he got up.

"Hey, where're you going?"

"I'm not staying in here and getting sick, I'm going to get some fresh air, but I will do one nice thing for you."

"What's that?" Sam asked.

"I will let you see outside." He answered, putting a chair in front of the window; he helped his brother sit on it then opened the curtains.

"Hey, before you leave, would you open the window, I want to hear what is going on."

"Do you think that is a good idea with you being sick?" The older brother wondered.

"Come on Dean, please." Sam begged with his puppy face.

"Fine, not because you begged, but because of the puppy face." Dean stated, opening the window.

"Thanks."

"Anyway, I'll see you later" Dean said, leaving the room.

OOOOOOO

"Gracie, look at the bird, can you say bird?

"Beadie" She squealed, looking towards the door, where Dean just appeared.

"Hey, what are you doing out here?" Mel asked.

"Came to see my niece and there is someone else, who wants to see her?" Dean said, pointing to the window.

"Oh, hi Sam." Stella yelled, so he could hear her.

"Hi" Sam yelled back from his seat by the window.

"Look Gracie wanna see daddy?" Dean asked.

"Dada" The toddler babbled, looking for him.

"No, he isn't here, look up there!" Her uncle pointed towards the window.

"Dada"

"Hi baby, you miss daddy? I'll see you later, when I get better." The younger Winchester called out the window.

While everyone was outside playing, Sam had to sit in his room watching them, feeling sad that he is missing out on playing with his daughter, but then he had to laugh when Bobby's dog Rumsfeld knocked Gracie to the ground and she got back up laughing.

Soon after everyone had enough of playing around and went back inside.

OOOOOO

"Hey Sammy, how are you feeling now?" Dean asked, walking into the bedroom.

"Just peachy!" Sam retorted from his place on the bed.

"You'll be better by morning. So, what's the verdict, is it the flu or a cold?"

"It's safe to say it's a cold."

"Here, take some of this and it will help!" Dean said, offering Sam some medicine.

"I'll take it, but what is it?" His brother asked, drinking the liquid.

"It's something that will help you sleep."

It didn't take long for the medicine to take effect and the younger Winchester to fall asleep. Dean made sure he was alright then left the room and went looking for the others. He found them in the kitchen, eating dinner and soon he joined them. Afterwards Melinda took some soup up to Sam who was still sleeping.

Gently waking him up, she said, "Hey Sam, sorry to wake you, but I brought you some soup. You better eat it, while it's hot."

"Oh hey, thanks" The ill young man replied, reaching out for the soup bowl.

"I see your kinda feeling better, but I think Gracie should sleep in my room tonight, so she doesn't get sick too."

"I think that is a good idea."

After he finished eating, he laid back down, falling asleep and staying that way until the next morning.

OOOOOO

Everyone was watching TV, except Sam, who was sleeping, when Jared finally arrived home.

"Dad, sorry I'm home so late." He apologized.

"Where were you? It's really only 9 o'clock." Bobby questioned.

"I went with Charlotte to meet her folks and then out to places."

"Uh oh, you met her parents!" A shocked Stella reacted.

"Yes, they are kinda cool. Anyway I'm heading to bed, I'm all tired out." Jared announced, leaving for upstairs.

A short time later Mel took Gracie up to her room to sleep and it didn't take long until everyone else also went to bed.

**Author's note: next chapter will be phantom traveler **

**sadly this will be the last chapter for a while I'm leaving august 21st till September 7th and when I come back I start my 2nd year of college on Mondays and Wednesdays but I will try and write chapters in between days I'm off but I'm also looking for a job but I will try my best to continue this story but it might be a while and if I take so long to update feel free to email me to update the story**


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: sadly I don't own Sam or dean nor the other characters nor do I own supernatural they belong to kripke and the cw. I do own Gracie and the other made up characters**

**BETA: the awesome vonnie836**

**author's note: so I'm back as you can see from my lovely 3 week vacation and sadly college starts for me in January long story short stupid financial aid. Any on with the story**

**OOOOOOOOOO**

**December, 2005**

I am going to go crazy if I don't find a hunt soon!"Dean yelled, while watching television with his brother in the living room.

Stella, and Jared where gone on a hunt with Caleb for the last couple days, while Bobby stayed behind. He wanted his kids to do a hunt without him there and the boys hadn't found any hunts yet

"Dean be quiet you're going to end up waking Gracie up from her nap" Sam scolded him, looking up from his book.

"Sure whatever and another..." Before Dean could say anymore his phone started to ring and he picked it up.

Talking to the person on the other end of the line, he shut the phone off once the call was over without saying anything.

"So, who called?" Sam asked, putting the book down.

"It was Jerry"

"Jerry who?" The younger Winchester pried further.

"Dad and I helped him out with a poltergeist problem a couple of years ago, while you were at school"

"What was he calling for?"

"He needs our help with a plane crash that happened a month ago. He is really concerned about it and thinks it wasn't an ordinary plane crash."

"Ok and what did you tell him?"

"I told him we can be there tomorrow afternoon."

"Where is it?" Sam continued to ask.

"Pennsylvania, if we leave tonight we can get a head start" Dean replied with a grin.

Just then Melinda walked into the room and both stopped talking and looked at her

"If you're going on a hunt I'm coming along."

"Let me think about this, ummm...no" Dean said. He didn't want another person coming with them.

"To bad Dean, I'm also a hunter and I'm coming one way or another" She insisted, walking towards him.

"I don't think so"

"Dean let her come, Bobby can watch Gracie. That way he can spend some time with her"

"Fine, but if she gets in our way I'm leaving her in the next town"

"Thank you and don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I've been a hunter for nine years. I can take care of myself."

"I hope so." Dean murmured under his breath.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing!"

"That's what I thought." She said, leaving the room, but turned around to see dean looking at her "Stop staring at my butt." She laughed, before disappearing.

"I'm so going to regret letting her come." The older brother complained.

"Hey, it's a good idea, you don't know, she might be of help."

Bobby chose that exact moment to walk in with a plate filled with sandwiches. As soon as Dean spotted them, he jumbled up and ran for them.

"Gosh, I was hungry." He said in between bites.

"When aren't you hungry, ever?" Sam laughed.

"Sam, do me a favor and shut up while I'm eating."

"So I heard from Melinda that you three heading down to a hunt?"

"Yeah I got a call from a friend of dad's that we helped a few years back."

"If she is going also, then I assume I'm taking care of the little one?" Bobby said with a smile on his face.

"Yup, I thought you would want to spend some time with her, since Stella and Jared don't get back until Sunday."

"By the way, what did you tell their school, since they missed three days of school?"

"I told them they were out of town visiting a sick relative. But really, it was against my better judgment to let them go on a hunt during a school week."

"Hey, don't worry next time Caleb will realize that they have school and won't ask. He just didn't have anyone else to go on this hunt."

Crying coming from the play pen alerted Sam to his daughter waking up. Walking over, he picked her up and comforted her, before placing her on the floor, putting a teddy bear in her arms.

"Boo" Gracie squealed, when she saw Bobby, getting herself up on her chubby legs and toddling over to the older hunter.

"Since when is you name boo?" Dean grinned.

"Since now, I guess." Bobby smiled, picking the little girl up.

"Boo" She squealed again, taking possession of his hat.

"Ok baby, let me go feed you some lunch." Sam said, trying to take her from bobby but failing when she held on tight to the older man.

"Sam, I'll feed her, why don't you and Dean go get ready?"

"Ok, yeah we'll go do that."

After bobby left with Gracie for the kitchen, Dean looked at his brother, whose face had turned sad.

"What's wrong with you now?"

"Nothing, let's just get things ready to go for tonight" Sam replied, leaving the room and walking up the stairs. Passing Mel in the hall, he heard her laugh, so he stopped and saw that she was looking at the pictures that were hung on the wall.

"What's so funny?" He wondered.

"I'm laughing at how weird your brother looks. Don't tell him I said this, but he actually looks cute." She answered, before turning around going downstairs. Passing Dean, who was trying to figure out why she was laughing, she ignored his questioning look.

"So Sammy, is there a reason why Melinda is laughing like crazy"

"Yeah, she was kinda laughing at a picture of you."

Stopping in his tracks for a second, Dean gave his brother an unidentifiable look, before shrugging, "Whatever I'm going to pack"

OOOOO

A few hours later Sam said goodbye to his daughter. All three left Bobby house and headed off to Pennsylvania. So far there was tension in the car between Dean and Mel.

"Dean, stop looking at me for the fourth time and please put AC/DC on now"

"Sorry, I'm listening to Metallica and when I look at you, it's only to make sure you're fine. Sheesh next time I won't check.

"Can you both stop and be civilized?" Sam yelled over the music.

"Sure whatever"

A few hours later they stopped at a motel to relax and sleep before continuing their way to Pennsylvania.

OOOOOOOOOOO

**Bobby's House**

"Ok Gracie, it's you and me tonight, so I'm sleeping in this room with you." Bobby whispered, while placing a half asleep Gracie in the crib. Watching for a moment as she slept, he was interrupted by the phone ringing.

"Hello"

"_Hey Bobby, how is Gracie doing?"_

"Oh hey Sam, she is asleep. Where you guys now?"

"_We are two states away from Pennsylvania. Just wanted to call to see how things are."_

"So far it's going fine and..."Before Bobby could finish, his phone peeped. Checking he saw it was Stella calling "Sam, I got to go, my daughter is calling. I hope you guys do ok on this hunt."

"Yep we will, have a good night."

Once Bobby disconnected the line, he called Stella back.

"_Hey dad, just calling to let you know, we are heading back a day early and to tell you that Jared broke his arm._

"Is he ok?" A suddenly very concerned Bobby asked.

"_Yep he is. Right now he is resting and we head out in the morning. _

"That's good, how are you?"

"I'm fine, just a cut, that's it."

"Listen sweetie, I got to head to bed, I'll see you in the morning"

"Ok dad, I love you."

"Right back at ya, honey."

After the phone conversation Bobby checked on Gracie one more time, before heading to bed also.

**Author's Note: next chapter is Phantom Traveler **


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer: I own nothing they belong to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my own characters**

**BETA: the awesome vonnie836**

**a/n: I want to thank all who alerted, reviewed and read this story thank you all **

**OOOOOOOOOO**

**Next Morning**

Dean, Sam and Melinda were dressed and packing their gear. By seven, the three of them were on the road, this time headed for Pennsylvania.

It was quiet in the car, when Dean spoke up, "So is anyone else hungry or is it just me?"

"I could go for some breakfast." Melinda replied, looking out the window at the scenery.

A few minutes later they stopped at a diner to eat. Once they finished, they got back on the road and this time Sam had some questions to ask his brother.

"How do you even know this guy?" He wondered. While they hadn't really talked about it, Sam was interested to know what had happened, while he'd been away at Stanford.

"Around the time you'd left for school," Dean said, "Dad and I went up to Pennsylvania to look into a possible haunting. We thought it was your garden variety ghost, but turned out it was a poltergeist that had latched itself onto this guy, Jerry. We banished it, and amazingly enough managed to save his house from being torn down around his ears."

"Wow," Melinda said, "There's always a lot of damage after banishing something that powerful. I should know, I did one about 2 years ago and it wasn't pretty."

Uh huh." Dean agreed.

"And you trust him?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, Jerry's a good guy." Dean said.

Sam nodded, accepting his brother's judgment with no questions. He leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes, listening to Blues Brothers playing softly from the radio. His mind started to drift to Gracie and what she might be doing at Bobby's house.

OOOOOOOOOO

**Bobby's House**

"Boo" Gracie called out from her place in the playpen.

"Ah, I see you're awake." Bobby replied, when the door bell rang. Going to go see, who it was, he saw Ellen, Jo and Jo's son Ian standing there, so he opened the door.

"Hi ya Bobby."

"Hi Ellen, what brings you all over here?" He asked.

"I was wondering, can you take Ian for the day, it is crazy busy at the roadhouse and dad is on a hunt with Paul." Jo begged, holding her son and a bag.

"Umm…sure, Sam's daughter is here as well, they can have fun together."

"Oh she is; thank you bobby." Jo said with relief.

Once Jo had spoken to Ian and he was out of ear shot, she took a few more minutes to give Bobby instructions, then they left. Now the old hunter was stuck babysitting for the day, but he didn't mind. A few hours later Ian and Gracie both fell asleep, after all the fun they had and while Bobby was picking up the toys on the floor, Stella and Jared arrived home

"Hey dad, we're home" Stella yelled.

"Shh Stella, Ian and Gracie are napping." Her father scolded.

"Sorry dad, anyway Caleb couldn't stay he had to leave right away." She replied walking into the living room at the same time Jared came in.

"Hey son." Bobby said, looking at Jared's casted arm.

"Hey dad, so as Stella told you, I broke my arm or let's say the creature did." Jared explained, sitting on the couch

"So how long do you have to wear it?" A concerned Bobby asked.

"The doctor said 6 weeks to two month."

After the two men finished talking Ian and Gracie woke up and Bobby fed them lunch. Later Stella took them to the living room and played with them.

OOOOOOOOOO

The trip from northern Virginia to Kittaning, Pennsylvania that should have taken then a good ten hours was made in eight. Pulling up outside the aircraft hanger, where Jerry worked, Dean gave an involuntary shudder at the airplanes lined up not too far from where he was parked. He hated airplanes. They were just…not natural.

Sam was out of the car almost immediately, stretching his long legs after being cramped from the long car ride and Melinda quickly followed, eyes roaming along the small planes

Dean started walking towards the balding, middle-aged man who was walking towards them.

"Dean." Jerry said, stepping up to them and holding out his hand. Dean shook his hand and smiled at the older gentleman.

"Hey Jerry, good to see you again."

"Yeah, you too, it's been a while."

Dean turned to gesture at Sam. "Jerry, this is my brother Sam."

"Oh hey, nice to meet you." Jerry said, holding out his hand.

"You too, Jerry." Sam responded, giving him a smile.

"And who is this lovely lady?" Jerry asked, turning to smile at Mel

"Mel, this is Jerry." Dean continued with introductions. Mel walked up to Jerry confidently and shook his hand. "Jerry, this is Melinda"

"Nice to meet you, Melinda" He said, shaking her hand. "Why don't we all head over to my office? I've got something to show you."

Dean glanced over at Sam and Melinda then followed Jerry across the airstrip, following him into the dark warehouse.

"Thanks for making the trip so quick," Jerry said as they walked through the warehouse. "I should be doing you guys a favor, not the other way around. Dean and your dad really helped me out." Jerry said, speaking to Sam.

"Yeah, he told me. It was a poltergeist?" Sam said.

Passing an employee, the man obviously overheard them, as he suddenly yelled out, "Poltergeist? Man I love that movie. It was an awesome kick ass movie"

"Nobody's talking to you, keep working." Jerry snapped, as Melinda started snickering behind them.

"Damn right it was a poltergeist. Practically tore our house apart. I'm telling you, if it wasn't for you and your dad, I probably wouldn't be alive."

Dean smiled at this and the four of them continued along their way to Jerry's office.

Jerry spoke again after a few minutes. "So Sam, your dad said you were off at college?"

"Yeah, I was." Sam said. Mel put a hand on his arm for support, knowing that Stanford was still a tough subject for him. "I'm...taking some time off."

"Well, he was real proud of you, talked about you all the time." Jerry said, not knowing exactly what it was, he was saying.

Sam blinked in surprise. "He did?"

"Yeah, you bet he did." Not catching that he'd just said something completely profound to Sam, Jerry continued chattering at them. "Oh hey, you know, I tried to get a hold of him, but I couldn't. How's he doing anyway?"

Sam and Dean exchanged a look and Dean finally spoke up. "Um...he's...wrapped up in a job right now." It was almost the truth. He was working on a job...they just didn't know what or where.

Jerry shrugged. "Well come on, I've got something I want you guys to hear."

After entering Jerry's office, Dean and Sam sat down in the chairs in front of him, Melinda standing behind Dean. Jerry glanced at her, before sitting down in his own chair and pulling out something from behind the desk.

"I listened to this, and, well…it sounded like it was up your alley. Normally I wouldn't have access to this. It's the cockpit voice recorder for United Britannia Flight 2485. It was one of ours." Jerry said as he popped a CD into his computer.

Suddenly static voices came through the speakers. There were mayday calls and panicked voices, before a hiss suddenly drowned everything else out.

Melinda exchanged looks with the Winchester boys. The hiss was definitely EVP, and the three of them knew it.

Jerry stopped the recording. "It took off from here, crashed about two-hundred miles south. Now they're saying, 'mechanical failure'. The cabin depressurized somehow. Nobody knows why. Over a hundred people were on board, only seven survived. The pilot was one of them. His name is Chuck Lambert. He's a good friend of mine. Chuck…he's pretty broken up about it, like it was his fault."

"You don't think it was?"Melinda asked softly.

No." Jerry said firmly, locking his gaze with hers. "I don't."

"Jerry, we gonna need passenger manifests, a list of survivors…" Sam started, going through a mental list of things that they'd need to start investigating. They could get this stuff on their own, but it would be easier, if they had someone with clearance. , who could get this stuff for them.

Dean interrupted Sam's train of thought. "Oh and we need to take a look at the wreckage."

Jerry frowned slightly. "The other stuff is no problem, but fellas, the NTSB has the remains of the plane locked down in an evidence warehouse. No way will I get that kind of clearance."

"No problem." Dean said with a smile. "And just where is this evidence warehouse?"

Melinda was sitting on the trunk of the Impala, phone permanently attached to her ear, as she called down the list of survivors, while Sam was leaning against the passenger side watching her, when Dean finally came out of the 'Copy Jack' they were parked next to. He passed a young woman, who gave him a smile and paused to watch her walk by, before turning around to face his brother.

"You've been in there forever." Sam complained.

"You can't rush perfection." Dean replied, holding out two plastic cards, each one declaring the two of them to be Homeland Security Officers.

"Homeland Security, that's pretty illegal man, even for us."

"Yeah well, it's something new. Mel, get off my car." Dean said, pausing from getting in the driver's side seat just long enough. She rolled her eyes and hopped of the trunk, still chattering quietly on her phone, she settled for leaning against the trunk instead.

Sam ignored his brother and Melinda and got in the passenger seat, pulling out his laptop and opening the lid, pulled up the voice recording of Flight 2485.

"So, I downloaded the recording from 2485. Listen, there's definitely EVP on the recording." Sam said, typing on the keys for a few seconds.

"Yeah?" Dean asked, leaning forward.

"Yeah, listen." Sam said, pressing play.

A few seconds of static nonsense came through the small speakers and then very clearly an eerie voice said, "No Survivors."

Dean frowned. "No survivors? What's that supposed to mean. There were nine survivors."

"Got me." Sam said, putting the laptop away and shrugging his shoulders.

"So, what do you think? A haunted flight?" Dean asked.

"There's a long history of spirits and death omens on planes and ships, like phantom travelers for instance. Those stories are pretty common.

Melinda leaned forward, putting her elbows on the edges of both boys' seats. "Well, while you two are out breaking the law in twenty-three different ways, and checking out the wreckage, why don't I go talk to the survivors?"

"Okay." Dean nodded, glad he wasn't going to have to argue with her and she could be useful "Who do you want to talk to first?"

"Third on the list." Melinda said, handing over the paper with the survivors on it. "Max Jaffey."

"Why?" Sam asked, taking the list from her and looking at it more closely.

"Well, partly because he's around here and besides, if anyone saw anything weird, he did."

"What makes you say that?" Dean asked.

"Because I talked to his mother, she told me where to find him."

"And where's that?" Dean and Sam asked in unison.

"Riverfront Psychiatric Hospital or another term could be the crazy house or the nut house" Melinda said with a grim smile.

"Peachy." Sam commented.

"Uh, huh."Melinda agreed. She looked from one to the other, judging their jeans and flannel over-shirts. Before she could say anything though, Sam beat her to the punch.

"First we need to find suits; we can't go inside dressed like this."

"What's wrong with what we're wearing?" Dean asked his brother defensively.

Dean, whoever is at the front is going to check our badge numbers, if we don't at least look the part we might get busted and that is not going to happen."

"You're not suggesting…" Dean started a look of horror appearing on his face. "…that I put on a…a _suit_?

"Sadly, bro that's exactly what I'm trying to say!" Sam grinned at the horrified look on his brother face.

Melinda nodded in agreement.

Dean glared, but nodded in reluctant acquiescence. "Fine, where to, all mighty know it all?" He asked.

Melinda pointed across the street to a men's store. A sign saying '_Mort's for Style' _hanging in the window_. _

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Dean growled slightly under his breath.

Driving the car over, he parked in front of the store. He got out, sparing the young woman and his brother an annoyed glance, before stomping in. Sam couldn't hold in a snicker as he followed him.

Melinda rolled her eyes at Dean and turned back, reaching for her phone, just as it started to ring, recognizing her sister number, she picked it up.

"Hey, sis what's going on" she asked cheerfully.

"_Nothing much. What you up to_" Julie asked, sitting next to a boy eating a burger.

"I'm on a hunt with Sam and dean up in Pennsylvania." She replied.

"_Oh so you're finally helping them on a hunt. Anyway, I just called to say that Jess parents' are coming down for Christmas, so don't say anything till the hunt is over"_

"Oh boy, when did they call you" Mel asked.

"_Yesterday night, after I came back from the movies with grandma and Joe._"

"Wait, I thought you were dating?" Seeing the boys come back out, she said, "Hey sis, got to go call you later."

"_Ok bye!_" Julie ended the called.

Mel put her phone away, when the boys got in the car.

"Man, I feel like one of the Blues Brothers." Dean complained as he got in the car

"No, you look more like a seventh grader at his first dance." Sam smirked at him, earning himself a punch in the shoulder.

"I agree you do look like a seventh grader at a dance."Mel said with a smile. If she was honest with herself though, she had to confess that the older Winchester cleaned up pretty well. Not that she would ever tell him, it might give him the wrong idea, like that she had feeling for him or something.

"Would you prefer to walk to the mental hospital?" Dean snarked back.

"Wow, someone is grouchy."

Melinda smiled to herself and settled in the back seat, as Dean pulled away from the curb and drove off, following her directions to Riverfront Psychiatric Hospital.

After promising to keep her phone on and meet up with them in three hours, Melinda got out and walked up the stone walkway and into the hospital. She watched the boys drive away, before she went inside the receptionist's office to con her way into talking with Mr. Max Jaffey.

O~O~O

While Mel was talking to Max, the boys managed to enter the NTSB warehouse. The guard at the door didn't even blink, when they introduced themselves as Agent Cooper and Agent Dunne. The guard manning the locked door opened it and in they went, walking among the wreckage of Flight 2485.

They looked through the wreckage, when Sam found an unfamiliar yellowish residue on the handles. Soon they heard footsteps coming their way. Dean nodded towards the emergency exit and together they raced for it. Letting Sam out the door first, Dean allowed the door to shut just seconds before the security guards and the real Homeland Security agents busted through.

Running around behind the buildings until they were sure no one was following, they finally started walking casually towards an extremely tall fence, intending to climb up and over it. It was only when an alarm sounded and alerted the rest of the security on the airstrip and locking the place down that both took off running. They managed to climb the fence and land on the other side.

OOOOOOOOOO

Melinda was sitting at a small table in the outdoors quad of Riverfront Psychiatric Hospital, waiting patiently, when Max limped around the corner. His gaze curiously fell upon her, as he came, leaning heavily on his cane.

"Miss Jackson?" Max asked, stopping by her table.

Melinda smiled sweetly at him. "Yeah, thanks for meeting me today Mr. Jaffey. I know it was kinda short notice and out of the blue."

"Not like I've got anything better to do." He said, sitting down across from her, wincing slightly. He leaned back in his chair. "So...the secretary said...you are the daughter of one of the passengers on the plane?"

Once max sat down Mel asked him questions about what he saw on the plane and why he signed himself in here. And he told her what he saw. Soon after, he stiffly walked off without waiting for any other response from her, not looking back even once. Not that it mattered, she thought as she walked towards the exit, pulling out her cell phone as she went.

It was time to find out where Mr. George Phelps lived; find out how he was able to bring down a plane, all on his own.

OOOOOOOOOO

It didn't take long for Mel to find a computer and track down the Phelps's residence. Within an hour of talking to Max she found herself walking cautiously up a stone walkway, to a nice house in the middle of a subdivision. Knocking on the door, she was prepared to come face to face with a monster.

She blinked in surprise when a sweet looking woman in her forties opened the door along with a girl who looked to be in her twenties

"May I help you?" the woman asked softly.

Melinda immediately pulled herself into character. "I'm Lisa Jackson, are you Mrs. Phelps?"

"Yes." the woman said hesitantly.

Mel smiled reassuringly. "I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about your husband, Mrs. Phelps."

"I don't think that's a good idea." The girl next to her spoke up.

"Annie, go back inside, please."

Once she was gone, Mrs. Phelps spoke to Melinda about what the airline had told her and that her husband had been on the plane, because he had been going to a dentist conference in Denver and how he had been afraid of flying. Mel gave her condolences and asked a few other questions, when her phone chose that very moment to go off. Glancing at it, she noticed the number.

"I have to take this, thank you for your time, Mrs. Phelps."

The woman nodded and Mel showed herself to the door, answering her phone as she went.

"So, you two get yourselves arrested yet?" she smiled, as she heard the put off sigh in the background.

"No, Mel. We can manage a few hours without getting ourselves in trouble." Sam said.

Mel laughed. "So where are you guys?"

Go down three blocks and hang a right. You'll see me."

"Got it, see you in about thirty seconds the way Dean drives."

Mel laughed out loud at the annoyed 'Hey!' in the background and hung up, walking down the Phelps's driveway to stand on the sidewalk. Sure enough, less than a minute later, the black Impala started around the corner and pulled up in front of her.

"Hey, need a ride?" Dean smiled charmingly at her.

"No, I'm just standing here for fun. Duh, I need a ride."

Dean rolled his eyes at her, as she crawled in the back seat. "So, guess what I found." she said cheerfully.

Both boys turned around to look at her. She told them what she found out, while talking to Mrs. Phelps.

OOOOOOOOOO

By the time the three of them had finished eating, and gone back to Jerry's office, he looked up from the microscope and announced that the yellow junk was sulfur and then walked to the far side of the room.

Away from the sulfur.

"You're sure this is sulfur?" Sam asked.

A loud crash echoed from the warehouse, and Jerry sighed, "Yeah, I'm sure. Take a look for yourself."

Yelling followed the crash and Jerry's face hardened. "Now, if you'll excuse me gentlemen, Melinda, I have two idiots to fire."

Jerry walked out of his office, yelling at whatever morons worked under him, as Dean walked around to the other side of the desk to look through the lenses of the microscope.

"You know, there are not too many things that leave behind a sulfuric residue." Dean said, glancing from Sam to Melinda.

"So, what are we dealing with?" Sam asked.

"I think demonic possession." His brother replied.

"So, what we do now?"

"Research time." Dean replied

OOOOOOOOOO

They drove around for a while, until they found a motel. Booking two rooms, they started researching but gave up after a few hours and called it a night, deciding it was time to hit the hay.


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer: I don't own the boys nor the show they belong to kripke and the cw. I only own my own creation**

**a/n: so did everyone enjoy the season premiere of s6 last friday. I know I did**

**BETA: the awesome vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOOOO**

**The next Day**

Dean, Sam and Melinda continued to research. There weren't many accounts of demons causing plane crashes or other major disasters. It was as if they didn't really have the interest in causing this kind of trouble.

Dean was currently sitting on the edge of his bed, books spread out all over Sam's bed in front of him. One hand flipped through ancient books in front of him, looking for anything that might tell them what kind of demon they were hunting and if there was anything they should know about it.

Sam sighed "Okay, so every religion in every world culture has the concept of demons and demonic possession, right? I mean Christian, Native American, Hindu...you name it."

"Yeah, but none of 'em describe anything like this." Dean said.

"Well, that's not exactly true. See, according to Japanese beliefs, certain demons are behind certain disasters, both natural and man-made. One causes earthquakes, another disease." Sam said, reading from his laptop screen.

"And this one causes plane crashes?" Dean asked skeptically. He glanced at Melinda, who was listening to Sam also.

Yeah," Sam nodded. "Who knows how many planes it's brought down before this one?"

Dean's cell phone chose that moment to go off with a shrill ringing noise.

"Hello?" he asked.

"_Dean? It's Jerry_."

"Oh, hey Jerry."

"_My pilot friend, Chuck Lambert, is dead_." Jerry said devastation audible in his voice.

Dean's attention was finally averted from Sam and Melinda, "Jerry, I'm sorry. What happened?" he asked stunned.

At Dean's tone, the two others looked up at him, the question clearly written in their eyes.

"_He and a buddy went up in a small twin about an hour ago. The plane went down_." Jerry said, sadly.

"Where did this happen?" Dean asked.

"_About sixty miles west of here, near Nazareth."_

Dean raised his eyebrows at that. "I'll try to ignore the irony in that."

"_I'm sorry_?" Jerry asked.

"Nothing Jerry, hang in there, all right? We'll catch up with you later." Dean said, hanging up the phone.

"Another crash?" Melinda and Sam asked at the same time.

"Yeah."

So where to?" Mel questioned, while getting up and starting to pack her stuff.

"Nazareth." Dean replied.

Once they finished talking, they started to put everything away and pack their belonging. Once finished putting everything into the car, they gave the place a once over to make sure nothing was left behind, before heading off to Nazareth.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"Sulfur guys, just like the last time." Sam stated.

"Well, that's just great." Dean snapped, running fingers through his hair and going over to the window,

"All right," Sam said. "That's two plane crashes involving Chuck Lambert. I'm sorry, Jerry, but this demon sounds like it was after him."

"Wait, do you guys see the pattern here?" Melinda spoke up, realizing what she read while researching earlier and what new evidence they'd just found. "Chuck's plane went down exactly forty minutes into flight. And get this. So did flight 2485. And flight 1784 and flight 2297. There's more, spread out over the last fifty years, just one or two every few years."

Sam and Dean's face lit up in recognition at the mention of forty minutes. Jerry was still lost in the dark.

"Forty minutes? What's that mean?" he asked, looking between the three hunters.

"It's biblical numerology," Dean said. "You know, Noah's Ark, rained for forty days…the number means death."

"Any survivors?" Sam asked, already knowing the answer.

"No." Mel confirmed. "Or at least not until flight 2485 for some reason. Remember the EVP?"

"No survivors." Sam quoted, looking at Dean.

"It's going after all the survivors. It's trying to finish the job."

"My thoughts exactly." Mel agreed.

Jerry shook his head and sat down in one of the chairs. "So what's the plan?" he asked, hoping against hope that there would be anything he could do.

"We track down the survivors; see if we can't find this demon." Sam explained.

OOOOOOOOOO

After leaving Jerry's office, they split up the list of survivors and called around, pretending to be surveyors, trying to find out, who could be the one the demon would most likely go after next. Dean drove as fast as possible towards the nearest major airport, ignoring the sound of the whining engine, as he tried to eat up the five hours between them and there as quickly as he could.

Sam snapped his phone shut and crossed names off of his own list. "So, that takes care of Blaine Sanderson and Dennis Holloway. They're not flying anytime soon."

"So our only wild card is the flight attendant, Amanda Walker." Dean said

"Right." Sam agreed.

Melinda spoke up then, pulling her phone from her ear. "That was Amanda's sister, Karen. Tonight's Amanda's first night back on the job. She said her flight leaves from Indianapolis at 8PM."

"Which is exactly where we're headed." Dean said, focusing on making the sharp turn ahead of them.

"That sounds like our luck."

"Dean, this is a five-hour drive man, even with you behind the wheel." Sam pointed out.

"Mel, why don't you call Amanda's cell again. See if we can't head her off at the pass."

"Dean, I already left her three voice messages. She must have turned her phone off or something." Mel said.

"God, we're never gonna make it." Sam worried.

"Oh, we'll make it." Dean promised, pressing down on the gas pedal all the harder.

True to his word, Dean whipped into the airport parking lot in just under five hours. The three of them scrambled from the car, Mel and Sam stopping at the trunk.

"Dean." Mel said, raising her voice enough to get his attention.

"What? Guys, we don't have time for this."

"Well make time Dean, we're about to go into an airport." Mel said pointedly.

Dean glowered at her. "You're kidding."

"No, do I look like I'm kidding?"

Dean sighed, and then walked over, opening the trunk lid. He proceeded to put two handguns, a box of ammo, three knives, a bottle of holy water, a bag of sage, six throwing stars and a small bag of salt into the trunk. Looking at the two others, he asked grumpily, almost sounding like a six year old, "Happy?"

"Now I feel naked." he complained.

"Oh, that's something I don't want to be reminded of."

Dean ignored her as they raced inside, already focused on the hunt. Glancing up at the arrival and departure boards, he glanced around for the flights leaving at eight o'clock.

Sam found it first.

"Right there, Gate thirteen. They're boarding in thirty minutes." he said, pointing up at the boards.

"Okay, we still have some cards to play. I gotta find a phone." Dean said, looking around, gaze landing on the white courtesy phone a few feet away. A few minutes later he came back with news about Amanda.

Sam shook his head. "All right, it's time for plan B. We're getting on that plane."

"Wait. Hold on just a minute." Dean said quickly, already knowing Sam was right, though.

"Dean, that plane is leaving with over a hundred passengers on board and if we're right, then that plane is going to crash." Sam looked at his brother like he was wondering, why they were even having that conversation.

"We're getting on that plane. We need to find the demon and exorcise it. Look, I'll get the tickets; you and Mel go and get whatever you can out of the trunk. Whatever will pass through security. Meet me back here in five minutes." Sam started to go, yet turned back when he saw Dean wasn't moving. "Are you okay?"

Dean looked around hesitantly. "No. Not really." he finally spit out.

"What? What's wrong?" Melinda asked concerned.

"Well…I kinda have this problem with…um…" Dean made waving motions with his hand, and then sighed, letting his hands drop to his sides.

"Flying?" Sam asked incredulously.

"It's never really been an issue until now." Dean said, frustrated.

"You're joking, right?" Mel said, raising an eyebrow, trying to decide if she should be sympathetic or hysterically giggling at him. "Dean Winchester is scared of flying, oh this is too good to be true."

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Dean asked, looking panicked. "Why do you two think I drive every where?"

Sam and Mel exchanged a look. "Okay, then Mel and I will do this one on our own.

"Oh no way Sam, you have a daughter that is waiting for you at home. You two stay here and I go do it."

"I don't think so Mel." Sam said, not liking the idea.

"What are you nuts? You said it yourself the plane's gonna crash." Dean yelled.

"Look Dean, we can do this together or Mel can do this by herself, even though I don't like the idea, but I'm honestly not seeing a third option here."

"Really?" Dean whined, shifting from one foot to the other. "Man…"

Mel grinned and tugged on Dean's arm, pulling him towards the parking lot again, going for all of the weapons, they could get on a plane.

Sam watched them go and grinned when Dean turned around and mouthed 'I hate you.' back at him.

Turning to the ticket counters, Sam shook his head at his older brother's determination. He'd already known what Dean's response would be when he'd suggested Mel and himself going by themselves, but it really hit a nerve when Mel decided to do it herself.

OOOOOOOOOO

Sam sat near the window, while Melinda had taken the aisle seat, with an agitated Dean in between them.

The older Winchester was quietly freaking out, fidgeting with the laminated sheets giving instruction on what to do in case of a plane crash and tightening the seat belt.

Melinda exchanged a grin at his obvious discomfort with Sam.

"Dude, are you humming Metallica?" Sam questioned.

"Calms me down." Dean snapped at him.

Melinda rolled her eyes. She was enjoying this too much

"Look man, I get you're nervous all right, but you have to stay focused." Sam whispered soothingly in his ear, before continuing quietly, "I mean, we've got thirty-two minutes and counting to track this thing down or whoever it's possessing, anyway and perform a full-on exorcism."

"Yeah, on a crowded plane, that's gonna be easy." Dean muttered to himself, hands fidgeting with the papers in his hands.

"Let's just take it one step at a time, all right? Now, who is it possessing?" Mel said, looking around the plane.

"Well, it's usually going to be someone with some kind of weakness. You know a chink in the armor that the demon can worm through, somebody with an addiction or some sort of emotional distress." Sam explained

"Well, this is Amanda's first flight after the crash. If I were her, I'd be pretty messed up."Mel offered.

"Mm-hmm." Dean agreed, desperately trying to keep his panic under control. A flight attendant walked by and he threw a shaky smile at her. "Excuse me, are you Amanda?"

"No, I'm not," she said sweetly.

"Oh, my mistake." he said, focusing on a small point on the chair in front of him.

After a few seconds, he turned around and looked behind them at the attendant stocking the drink cart in the back. "All right, well that's got to be Amanda back there. So, I'll go talk to her and try and get a read on her mental status."

"What if she's already possessed?" Melinda asked.

"There's ways to test that." Dean said, pulling out a bottle of holy water.

Sam shook his head and took the holy water from Dean's hands. "No, I think we can go more subtle." he said. "If she's possessed, she'll flinch at the name of God."

Dean nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly with his younger brother. He got up to leave, and Sam called him back. "Say it in Greek"

Dean rolled his eyes slightly at Sam. "I know." He gave Mel a shaky smile and took off down the aisle.

"Hey." Sam called again.

"What?" Dean growled at him.

"In Greek it's Christo."

"Dude I know, I'm not an idiot." Dean growled out again, before stalking off down the aisle. A small bit of turbulence hit the plane, shaking it. Dean slammed his hand down on the chair next to him to keep his balance.

Sam nudged Mel shoulder, making her jump. "Hey you okay?"

"Uh huh I'm dandy." Mel said shakily.

"You don't look like it. You don't like planes either?"

"It's not the plane." Mel said quietly, "I'm worried that if we don't make it, Gracie will grow up without a father, uncle and aunt

"You're not the only one thinking that." The young father replied with a sad smile.

"Hey Sam, we will find this demon and everything will be ok." Mel tried to reassure him, regretting even saying what she did.

"All right, she's got to be the most well-adjusted person on the planet." Dean said, sitting down in the seat he'd just vacated, interrupting the silent conversation with Mel and Sam.

Sam shared a glance with Mel and then focused on his brother. "You said Christo?"

"Yeah." Dean said, tightening his seat belt and then clutching the edges of arm rests so tight his knuckles turned white.

"And?" Sam asked

"There's no demon in her. There's no demon _getting_ into her." Dean said agitatedly.

"So if it's on the plane, it can be anyone, anywhere." Sam said, looking around worriedly.

The plane suddenly began to shake, and Dean clamped his hand down on Mel's arm, causing her to wince.

"Come on! That can't be normal!" He cried out.

"Hey. It's just a little turbulence." Sam said softly and quietly, trying to calm his brother down, "You need to calm down." He tried again, with an even more soothing voice, "Listen to me. You are panicked and wide open to possession. So you need to calm yourself down, right now." He growled low in his throat at Dean.

"Dean, do you mind getting your hand off of my arm? I feel like I'm about to lose feeling in it." gritted Mel.

"Oh sorry" Dean pulled his hand off of Mel, noticing the finger marks encircling her arm, already starting to bruise. He flinched, when he realized he put them there.

The exorcism is in two parts." Sam said bringing Dean's attention back him. "The first part expels the demon from the victim's body. It makes it manifest, which actually makes it more powerful."

Dean focused fully on Sam now. "More powerful?"

"Well," Sam said, flipping through the pages of the journal now. "It doesn't need to possess someone anymore. It can just wreak havoc on its own. Not that it can't possess someone or that it won't, it just doesn't have to."

"Oh, great." Dean said sarcastically. "And why is that a good thing?"

"Because the second part sends the bastard back to hell, once and for all."

"First things first, we gotta find it." Pulling out his EMF reader, he looked at his brother, "Okay. You work on this, I'll find it."

Getting out of his seat, he turned to the other two, who had followed suit, "Let's do this!"

Finally reaching the end of the plane without the reader registering anything, he found Sam's questioning eyes on him

"Anything?" The younger man asked.

"No, nothing. How much time do we have?"

"Fifteen minutes." Sam responded, voice tight with tension.

"Maybe the thing is just not on the plane?" Dean asked hopefully.

"You believe that?" His brother questioned him.

Dean smirked at Sam. "Well…I will, if you will." He glanced over at Mel. Her gaze was focused on the bathroom door that had just opened. At the same time, the EMF reader chose to start squealing.

Dean glanced up and saw the co-pilot come out of the small room. He focused his gaze on the smiling man.

"Dean, what is it?" Sam asked.

"Christo." Dean said, low enough for Sam to hear. The co-pilot turned around and hissed at them, eyes turning jet black.

Both boys exchanged a look as he turned and walked back into the cockpit.

"Oh crap I...it's the co-pilot." Melinda called out, first looking at the boys then back at the door.


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: I still don't own sam or dean or any one else nor do I own the awesome show supernatural they belong to kripke and the CW. But I do own my own creation **

**BETA: the awesome Vonnie836**

**a/n thanks to the readers who put this story on alert, review or reading **

**OOOOOOOOO**

As soon as the co-pilot walked back into the cockpit, Dean and Sam exchanged a glance. Without even talking about it they turned around and quickly went back to where Mel and their supplies were.

"The co-pilot?" Dean hissed, looking between Mel and Sam. "That's the perfect disguise."

"No kidding." Sam agreed. "How are we going to get him out of there and into a secluded spot so that we can exorcise him? Before he crashes the plane?"

While Sam and Dean started handing supplies to each other, stuffing them into pockets and jackets, Mel was looking around the plane.

"Amanda could get him out." She finally said quietly.

Dean and Sam both stopped to look at her like she'd grown another head

"You're kidding right?" Sam asked.

"What are we gonna say to her? Hey, can you help us get your demonic boss back here so that we can exorcise him to keep him from crashing the plane?'" Dean asked sarcastically.

Mel looked up, dead serious "Yeah actually. You two got a better plan?"

Sam glanced at Dean, and sighed. They both knew she was right. As Dean glanced at his watch, Sam turned and started walking towards the back. Dean turned to follow, so did Melinda.

"She is not gonna believe this." Sam muttered to Dean and Mel.

"Twelve minutes dude." Dean said, reminding him that they didn't have another plan or option.

Sam shook his head as the three of them entered the back area were Amanda was working. She smiled sweetly at them.

"Oh, hi." She said cheerfully. "Flight's not too bumpy I hope."

"Actually, that's kinda what we need to talk to you about." Dean said, watching as Mel closed the curtains, keeping them hidden from the rest of the cabin.

Amanda looked at them confused. "Okay. What can I do for you?"

"Okay this is gonna sound nuts…" Dean started.

"…but we really don't have time for the whole 'truth is out there speech' right now." Mel finished.

At the look Amanda gave Mel, Sam spoke up. "Look, we know you were on flight 2485."

Amanda's friendly look suddenly disappeared. "Who are you guys?"

"We've spoken to some of the other survivors." Sam said. "We know something brought down that plane. And we know it wasn't mechanical failure."

"And we need your help, because we need to stop it from happening again, right here." Dean finished for his brother.

"I'm sorry. I'm very busy." Amanda said, turning back to her drink cart, hoping the crazy people would go away.

"Wait a second. I'm not gonna hurt you." Dean said, stepping into her line of vision again and forcing her to look at him. "Listen, the pilot from Flight 2485, Chuck Lambert? He's dead."

Amanda shook her head, shock clouding her features. "What? Chuck is dead?"

"He died in a plane crash." Mel said bluntly, stepping forward. "Now that's two plane crashes in two months. That doesn't strike you as strange?"

"Look, something was wrong with 2485. Now, maybe you sensed it, and maybe you didn't, but there is something wrong with this flight too."

"Amanda, you have to believe us." Dean pleaded with her.

Amanda took a deep breath, knowing that what she was about to say sounded completely nuts. "On…2485...there was this…man. He…had these eyes…"

"Yes! That's exactly what we're talking about." Sam said.

"Okay. But I don't understand. What is it exactly that you want me to do?" Amanda asked, looking from Sam, to Dean, and then back to Mel.

"Okay, the co-pilot? We need you to bring him back here." Dean said.

"Why? What does he have to do with anything? He wasn't even on 2485."

"We don't have time to explain." Sam said. "We just need to talk to him, okay?"

"How am I supposed to go into the cockpit and get the co-pilot…" Amanda started, going back to her initial theory that these people were crazy.

"Do whatever it takes," Mel jumped in. "Whatever will get him back here."

"Okay." she said, walking out of the room and down the aisle.

All three moved to the curtain and watched as Amanda went to the cockpit. After knocking, the co-pilot stepped out. The three of them watched as Amanda motioned to the back. A few seconds later, the two of them were heading back towards the small room where the Winchesters waited with Melinda.

Dean stepped back from the curtain, and handed Melinda a bottle of holy water. He shook his arms loose and watched her wedge herself in a corner where she wouldn't get in the way. Sam backed out of Dean's way as well, opening John's journal, preparing to begin the exorcism as soon as the co-pilot entered the room.

"Now what seems to be the prob…"

Dean's fist collided with the man's face before he ever had time to register what was happening. Another punch and he soon wrestled the man to the floor, putting a piece of duct tape over his mouth.

Amanda began freaking out. "What are you doing? You said you were just going to talk to him!"

"We are gonna talk to him." Dean growled out.

Mel, taking that as her cue, rushed over and started pouring holy water over the man. Holes began to sizzle and burn through his clothing,

The demon continued to fight Dean, not letting him have the advantage easily. Amanda's voice however, was still clearly heard over the struggle.

"Oh my God. What's wrong with him?" She cried out hysterically.

Mel looked up. "Look, lady. We need you calm and we need you outside the curtain. Don't let anyone in. Can you do that?"

When Amanda didn't look up and instead continued to stare at the demon, Mel raised her voice and in an authoritative tone, snapped her name.

Amanda blinked and then nodded, quickly rushing outside the curtain, deciding she really didn't want to know what was going on at all.

Mel's attention was brought back to the brothers, as Dean yelled out to Sam over the rumbling of Latin. "Hurry up, Sam! I don't know how much longer I can hold him!"

As if in response, the demon finally got a lucky break, and wrenched his arm free of Dean's grasp, knocking the holy water from Mel's hand, and throwing Dean backwards. He ripped the tape off of his mouth and pulled Sam close.

"I know what happened to your fiancee! And to your son" The demon cried out from his borrowed body. "She must have died screaming! Even now she's burning; your son is another story though." Then looking at Melinda he continued, "I know what really happened to your brother"

The demon was cut off as Dean thrust his fist into his nose, before Mel and he both grabbed one of his arms, holding him down on the ground again.

Sam seemed to be frozen in space, unable to move after the demon's announcement.

"Sam!" Mel and Dean cried out at the same time. The two of them yelling seemed to snap Sam out of his haze and he picked up the journal, snarling slightly at the demon as he did so. Finishing his Latin incantation, he reached down to help Mel hold the demon down.

"I got it." Sam called to Dean and Mel let up and backed away, letting the boys work, allowing herself to get lost in thought about what the demon just said about her brother.

After a few seconds, the first stage of the exorcism was finished and the demon was no longer bound to the man. Now loose on the plane, stronger and more dangerous than ever, Sam was horrified when the journal slid down the aisle, away from him. He still needed to perform the second stage – sending the demon back to hell.

While he chased the book, the demon was wreaking havoc on the plane, causing all kinds of turbulence. And with his part in the proceedings over, Dean' adrenaline rush, which had kept him from losing it completely, was wearing off and left him free to panic to his heart's content. Finally getting hold of the journal, Sam hurried to finish reading the incantation over the yelling and screams and despite the plummeting of the plane. At last the crisis was over, the plane back under control and making an emergency landing.

Back on the ground, Amanda mouths 'thank you' at the boys, while answering questions to the police,

"You okay?" Dean asked, taking in the way his brother looked.

"Not really Dean, it knew about Jessica."

"Sam, these things – they read minds and they lie, alright? That's all it was." 

"Yeah" The younger man turned to Mel, who looked like she was lost, "You ok?"

"I'll get back to you about that. We are miles away from Pennsylvania and the car, so how are we going to get back?"

"I know one thing; we're not taking a plane back. I had enough with planes for one night." Dean stated.

"Ok, so I just go and ask the ticket lady where we are." Sam walked away, returning less than a minute later.

"So where are we?"

"Ohio airport"

"Ok so we take a greyhound bus and we will be back in Pennsylvania by morning." Melinda suggested.

Finding the bus station and buying the tickets was easy and for once they got lucky, as the bus was taking off within half an hour after they got there. Arriving back in Pennsylvania by morning, they contacted Jerry, who picked them up got them back to where the Impala was parked. Collecting the car, they took time for a fast breakfast, before heading over to Jerry's office.

"Nobody knows what you guys did, but me. A lot of people could have been killed. Your Dad's gonna be real proud."Jerry said to the boys and Melinda.

"Hey, Jerry." Dean called out. "I've been meaning to ask you. How did you get my number anyway? I only had it for like six months."

Jerry just shrugged, looking at the three of them. "Your dad gave it to me."

Dean and Sam's eyes widened in surprise, even Mel raised an eyebrow. A stranger in Pennsylvania was able to get a hold of him, but his own children weren't? Somehow that seemed a little suspicious to her.

"When did you talk to him?" Dean asked anxiously, sparing a glance at his younger brother, seeing the same anxiety and surprise reflected in the younger man's eyes.

"Well, I didn't actually talk to him..." Jerry admitted. "But I called his number and his voice mail said to give you a call."

Dean and Sam just continued to stare at him incredulously. Seemingly oblivious to their surprise, Jerry just waved at them again and walked away. The boys exchanged another look, before sliding into the car almost simultaneously, Mel close on their heels.

Twenty minutes of strained silence later, Dean finally pulled the car over to the side of the road with a loud sigh. Sam and Mel just looked at him as he pulled out his cell phone and flipped it open.

"You don't think…" Sam started.

Dean just continued to stare at his phone. "You heard what Jerry said." he whispered quietly.

"Yeah, but this doesn't make any sense. I mean, I've called Dad's cell like fifty times. It's been out of service." Sam argued.

Dean didn't answer, but just punched a button and then turned it on speaker phone. The phone rang once, and then a rough, gravelly voice came over the line, filling the small space of the car. Even Mel leaned forward, resting her chin on Sam's shoulder.

_'This is John Winchester. I can't be reached. If this is an emergency, call my son Dean. 866-907-3235. He can help.'_

Sam blinked his eyes, looking like he was trying to keep tears from falling, and the two boys exchanged yet another look. The beep signaling that the message started seemed to get Dean's attention.

"Hey Dad." Dean said, clearing his voice. "Listen, I'm with Sam..., we're looking for you man. If you get this, call me back so we know that you are ok."

Dean exchanged a look with his devastated brother and glanced at Melinda, who had a sad smile on her face. Flipping the phone shut, he put the car in gear and peeled off down the highway, lost in his own thoughts.

A few hours into the drive he stopped at a motel and got two rooms, one for Melinda and one for him and his brother.

That night Sam couldn't sleep. His mind kept replaying the demon's words over and over in his head. Finally he got up and headed outside to call Bobby and check up on Gracie.

"_Hello_" A only half awake Bobby picked up the phone.

"Hey Bobby, sorry to wake you up, but I'm just calling to check up on Gracie"

"Oh _hey Sam, she is doing fine and sleeping right now."_

"That's good, I'll see her tomorrow." The young father replied, looking around the parking lot.

"_Sam is everything okay?_"

"Yeah sure, everything is okay. Anyway, I got to go and let you sleep."

"_Ok bye, Sam, take care!_" Bobby said, hanging up.

Once Sam ended the call, he walked back into the room, finding his brother sitting at the side of the bed, concern etched on his face.

"Sam, I know this isn't my place, but I have to ask. When we were on the plane and the demon said your son, what did he mean by that?"

"Can we talk about this, when we get back to bobby house?" Sam pleaded, walking over to his bed.

"Okay, but this conversation isn't over" Dean replied seriously, before turning off the light.

**Author's Note: Next chapter will reveal, what happened to Matthew** **I know a lot of people are wondering what happened to him so the next two chapters will reveal it **


	33. Chapter 33

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Sam and dean nor the other characters from the awesome show supernatural they belong to kripke and the cw**

**a/n thanks to everyone who is reading this**

**BETA: the awesome Vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOOOO**

The next morning, after a good night of sleep or like in Mel and Sam's case a few hours of rest, they packed up and drove back to Bobby's house. It took them a few hours to get there, but they managed to make it by evening time and for dinner.

"Hey Bobby, we're back." Dean yelled out upon entering the house, once Stella opened the door for them.

"Dean is that necessary? Everyone is eating dinner already." Stella questioned him, when she realized he was running towards the kitchen.

"Is he always like that when you mention food? Melinda asked, walking into the kitchen also.

"Yep, but he goes ape crazy if you mention pie." Sam enlightened her, scanning the living room for his daughter.

Like Stella was reading his mind, she explained, "Gracie is upstairs napping. After she ate I gave her a bath. She fell asleep as soon I put her in the crib."

"Oh thanks Stella for helping out with her."

"It's ok, just go ahead and see her." She replied, watching as Sam walked upstairs to the room he shared with his daughter.

Entering, he walked over to the crib and looked at his daughter sleeping with the teddy bear that Dean had given her. A warm feeling flooded through him as he watched her, making it difficult to tear himself away. When he finally turned around to leave, he saw Melinda standing by the door.

"She asleep?" She whispered.

"Yeah, she is." Sam replied quietly.

"Sam, I need to tell you something that my grandma and I kept a secret." She said.

Leaving the room, she walked down the hall to her room. She didn't need to turn to know that the younger Winchester was following her.

"I think you should sit down and hear what I have to tell you." She watched as Sam sat down on the bed and looked at her expectantly.

"Mel, what's going on?"

Mel walked over to the window, "Ok, this is going to be hard to understand, but that night when Jessica lost Matthew I went back to the house and I found sulfur on the window sill."

"What? Are you saying a demon was involved in Matthew death?"

"Sam, what that demon said on the plane is true." She said, turning away from the window just in time to see the pained emotions on his face.

Without another word the young man stood up and left the room, walking down to the kitchen, where only his brother was left, eating pie.

"Hey Sammy, you shoul..."

The rest of the words got stuck in his throat, when he looked up and saw his brother on the verge of tears walk by him through the door to the junk yard. Ignoring the rest of his pie, he sprinted after him, his heart breaking he saw the crowbar in Sam's hands coming down to break the window out of one of the salvage cars.

"Sam, what's wrong?" Dean watched his brother smash another few windows and once he ran out of windows, move on to beating up the car. Needing to stop him from hurting himself, he lunged for his brother against his better judgment and pinned him to the ground, throwing the crowbar as far away as possible.

"Get off of me dean, please." Sam begged, still nearly in tears.

"If I let you go, you have to tell me, why you were smashing this car!"

"Fine, just let me go." Sam relented.

Once Dean let him go, he got up and walked to the porch steps, sitting down on it. His brother followed, sitting down next to him.

"So want to tell me what that was all about?" A concerned Dean pried, looking at his brother.

"It turns out that the demon on the plane was telling the truth." Sam pushed out, not looking at his brother.

"Sam, I told you demons lie and…" The older hunter started, but was cut off by his brother.

"Mel told me the truth a few minutes ago, while I was checking on Gracie."

"What did she say?"

"She said that the night we lost Matthew, she came back to the apartment and found sulfur in our bedroom."

"So you're saying a demon killed your child?" A shocked Dean inquired.

"Yeah" Sam answered tonelessly, wiping away tears with his sleeves.

"Sammy what happened that night, before all that occurred?" The older Winchester asked, trying to find out the details of that tragic night, when Melinda came out the house and sat down next to Sam, patting his arm.

"Sam, I think you should tell your brother, while I'm here."

"Were you at the apartment when this happened?"

"I was spending the night, but went out for a few hours and when I came back I saw the ambulance drive off and your brother was about to lose it, so I walked up and drove him to the hospital"

"I called Leslie, she was in town for the night and she came over to the hospital."

"What happened before that was a quiet night." Sam started to tell the story.

**Author's Note: next chapter will be what lead up to that tragic night and a scene will be added that is not part of Sam's story telling. **


	34. Chapter 34

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, they belong to Kripke and the CW, but I do own my own characters **

**BETA: the awesome Vonnie836 **

**A/N: I do not have any medical knowledge whatsoever. I did my research and found information so please don't get mad at me, if I got information wrong I was trying my best.**

**A/N: Placental abruption is an uncommon and serious complication of pregnancy. **

**Warning: *tissue alert* and this is a flashback chapter**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

**November 2nd 2003**

"Hey Jessica, I'll see you tonight, I have some things to do around town." Melinda, who was in town visiting her cousin, yelled out.

"Ok have fun." A very pregnant Jessica replied, wobbling over to the couch and turning on the television. A few minutes after Mel left Sam walked into the apartment with a bag.

"I got the ice cream you wanted babe." He told her, walking to the kitchen and scooping some in a bowl he took out of the cupboards, before going back and handing it to his girlfriend.

"Thanks so much Sam, I've been craving this all day." A grateful Jess replied, immediately starting to eat the ice cream.

While she was eating, Sam sat next to her rubbing her stomach and starting to talk to the baby.

"Hi Matthew, it's me daddy."

The baby kicked in reply.

"I guess he is happy to hear you today." Jessica said with a big smile on her face.

"I think he is." Sam's smile was just as big, "I can't wait to see our son in a few months."

"You're not the only one, I want to look into his eyes and know we created him." She placed the now empty plate on the floor and rubbed her pregnant stomach. Sam looked at her and kissed her.

After breaking apart, they cuddled up and Sam changed the channel to the news then covered both of them with a blanket, gently rubbing her stomach.

"I love you and I love this baby. I love our family." He whispered in her ear.

Jessica smiled at him, "I love you too."

The news started and Sam looked at her, noticing how tired she looked.

"Babe, why don't you go to bed and take a nap?" Helping her off the couch, he assisted her to the bedroom.

"I think I will take a nap." She yawned.

Once Sam helped Jess lie down, he covered her with a blanket and made sure she was ok and comfortable, before he left the room and went back to watch the news.

OOOOOOOO

**A half hour later **

Jessica was still in bed napping, when the curtains started to move a little and the window opened up halfway. An unknown person crawled in through it. The determination with which he walked up to her, made it clear he had a mission to complete.

Standing beside the bed, he closed his eyes and started to speak, "Yes father, I'm in the house and I found her. Once I do this the child will not exist anymore."

The demon, because that's what he was, placed his hands over Jess protruding stomach and started speaking an incantation. As soon as he sensed the child nearly stopped fighting he disappeared.

Jessica awoke immediately, feeling excruciating pain and screamed out.

"Sam"

Hearing the scream of his girlfriend, Sam ran immediately to the bedroom.

"What's wrong?" He asked, terrified by the expression on her face.

Looking at him with pain etched on her face, she felt her stomach begin to cramp again.

"Jess?"

A big tear rolled down Jessica's cheek, as the pain intensified, "I think something's wrong." She said, placing her hands on her abdomen.

Sam immediately began to panic, breathing deeply, he pulled himself together to try and remain calm for Jess, "Okay, um, I'll get your shoes and we'll go to the hospital." She nodded, trying not to cry - but still several tears escaped her eyes.

Sam returned a moment later. While hanging up the phone, he quickly helped Jess put her shoes on then gently wiped away her tears, scooping her into his arms and taking her to the living room

"I'm sure everything's okay." Sam gently reassured. "I called 911 and your grandmother, she will be here in a few minutes."

Jessica shook her head, "No, something's wrong, I know it!"

Just then the door bell rang and the voices could be heard. Getting up, Sam opened the door and told the men what the problem was. As soon as they loaded Jess in to the ambulance, Leslie arrived.

"Sam. what's wrong?" She asked with terror in her voice.

"We can talk in the hospital, go with Jess. I need to get her bag that is inside." Sam said, starting to panic.

Once Leslie boarded the ambulance and it took off, Melinda was coming back to the house and saw it leave. Running inside the house, she found Sam in the bedroom, throwing a few of Jess' things into an overnight bag. Taking the bag, he told her to follow him. Hurrying to the car, he told her on the way to the hospital what had happened.

OOOOOOO

Once they arrived, a nurse took Sam to the room they placed Jessica in. Sam walked over to her and held her hand tightly, as they waited for the doctor to come examine her.

Jess could not keep herself from crying, "Sam, I'm scared." She whispered softly, while Sam gently squeezed her hand, he too was terrified, "I know babe, but…" He was interrupted by a doctor walking into the room.

"Hi I'm doctor Hank. So Jessica, can you tell me what's going on?"

Jess tried to stop her tears, as she began, "I was taking a nap and woke up because I felt this terrible pain. Then my stomach started to cramp." Her voice trailed off, as more tears fell down her cheeks and another pain hit her, having her scream because of the severity of it. Trickles of blood started to appear between her legs, not going unnoticed by the doctor. Rushing out the room, he returned with 2 orderlies.

"What's wrong with her?" Sam asked, now in full blown panic mode upon seeing Jess in this much distress and bleeding.

"I think we are dealing with a possible placental abruption." The doctor explained, helping the orderlies place a crying Jess on the gurney.

"Sam, it hurts so much!" She cried out again, when another pain hit, "AHHH"

"We are going to take her upstairs"

"Ok" Sam acknowledged with tears in his eyes. He turned towards Jessica "Babe, they are going to take you up and see if there is something wrong with the baby."

"I'm scared Sam, what if we lose the baby?" Jess cried.

"We won't, ok, he will fight." Sam kissed her and watched, as they took her away. He walked towards the waiting room to see Leslie on the phone and Melinda holding her sister's hand.

OOOOOOO

**Meanwhile in the surgical suite** –

Standing around surgical table containing an anesthetized Jessica, the obstetric surgeon and his assistants got to work.

"Okay, we need to get this baby out quickly and stop the bleeding, before she bleeds out." He ordered.

One of his assistants handed him a scalpel and he dragged it across the lower part of Jessica's stomach. Putting it aside he called for the abdominal retractor. After receiving it, he spread both sides of the abdominal apart to allow access to the womb. Cutting into it with much care, as no not injure the baby, he inserted two smaller retractors and ordered another helper to hold on to them it apart also. That done, he screamed for suction, while using the scalpel to burst the membranes. Reaching inside with both hands, he gripped the baby and pulled it out. While handing it to the by standing pediatrician, a nurse clamped the umbilical cord with two forceps, before cutting in between.

"How's the baby doing"?

"Not good. He isn't breathing"

She used the infant ambu bag, carefully squeezing air into the tiny lungs, while one of the nurses lightly pressed against his chest, trying to get his heart going.

"Come on little one, breathe baby."

Continuing to work frantically on him, they rolled the warming bed out to the neonatal ICU.

Meanwhile the obstetrician continued to operate on Jessica. "Darn it, there is too much blood, I can't see where it's coming from."

Grabbing the suction tube form one of his assistants, he cleared the area, hoping to finally be able to see the cause of the bleed.

"There it is!" He cauterized the bleeder, and then stepped back, "Ok, clean it up, and then close her. Make sure she gets another couple units of pack cells. I'm going to check on the baby, then out to inform the family."

OOOOOOO

"I talked to Jessica parents they said they will be here by tonight" Leslie said, after getting off the phone and sitting down in one of the chair.

"Ok" Sam acknowledged, continuing to pack back and forth, while waiting for news on Jessica and the baby.

"Sam you need to calm down, Jess and the baby will be fine." Melinda spoke up.

"How do you know? You weren't in the room Mel, she was screaming, because she was in so much pain."

"Even though..." before Mel could finish, she saw the doctor walk towards them.

"Sam, I'm afraid the news I have isn't all good." Dr. Hank stated, looking around the family.

"W...what h...happened?" Sam stuttered, looking at him with tears in his eyes.

"We went in and managed to take the baby. The pediatrician we had on standby took over and they took him to the ICU." He paused for a moment, searching for the right words, "Sam, they tried everything, but he didn't respond. I'm sorry, but we couldn't save your son."

He watched the broken young man and the family, knowing the blow he just had to deal them was having a devastating effect.

"That can't be, that baby was fine and now you're saying it is dead?" A shocked Leslie cried out.

"I'm sorry, I promise you, we did everything we could but because of the placenta separating the baby was without oxygen for too long." He once again looked at Sam, noting the trembling around the young man's mouth and the desperate question standing in his eyes. Putting his hand on his shoulder, he said, "Jessica will be fine, we stopped the bleeding and my assistant is closing her up as we speak. She will be moved to a room soon." He hated this part of the job, yet at least this time he didn't have to tell the family that both, mother and baby died.

"Once Jessica is back in her room someone will come and get you, so you can be with her." He continued, when his pager went off. Pulling it out, looked at it. "You have to excuse me; I have another emergency to tend to. I'll be back later to check on your girlfriend."

Once the doctor left the atmosphere changed dramatically. Everyone was in a somber mood and no words were spoken.

OOOOOOO

"Ok, we're ready to take her up to the room now." A nurse said, walking with the doctor while wheeling Jessica out the post surgical unit.

"Ok, that's good, I'll go inform the family and see if they have any questions." Dr. Hank walked towards the waiting room with the grieving family.

Seeing the doctor enter, everyone looked at him expectantly.

"Jessica is out of surgery and on her way to a room right now. But I would like to know do any of you have any questions for me?"

"How could this happen? She went for a check-up last week and they said everything was fine and that the baby was healthy." Leslie asked.

"Well this is what happened; Jessica had a complication, known as placental abruption which means the separation of the placenta from the wall of the uterus. The Placenta is the organ, where the exchange of nutrients and oxygen from mother to fetus takes placed. If it separates, it can deprive the baby of oxygen and nutrients and cause heavy bleeding in the mother." said the doctor. He paused to let the young father and the rest family grasp, what he explained.

"Is this common?" asked Melinda, looking at the doctor.

"Luckily it isn't which makes this even more tragic. It usually happens when there is a trauma, like a fall or a car accident, but sometimes there is no known cause."

"What trauma? She went to take a nap and woke up screaming in pain." Sam questioned.

"Sam, I'm not saying there was any; something happened that complicated her pregnancy. Sadly, sometimes these things just happened. We tried our best, but we were too late to save him, I'm honestly sorry."

"Can we go see my cousin now?" Julie wondered, just wanting to make sure Jess was alright and prepare her for the most heart wrenching news.

"In a few minutes a nurse will be out to show you to her room. Now, if there are no more questions for me I'll be off."Dr. Hank said, taking his leave from the family.

As promised, a few minutes later a nurse showed up and took them to Jess' room.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Jessica woke up slowly to her family surrounding her.

"Hey sweetie, you're awake!" Leslie said at seeing her granddaughter open her eyes.

"Grandma" Jess croaked out.

"Hey Jess, don't talk too much babe, you came out of surgery a few hours ago." Sam tried to settle her upon hearing the sound of her voice.

"What happened?"

"You had a placental abruption and they had to do an emergency C section. You nearly died from the bleed, but they were able to stop it." Melinda explained, getting up and moving over to her bed.

"I know what that means; I am studying to be a doctor. But Matthew, where is he?"

"Sweetie, why don't you rest for a little while longer?" Leslie encouraged her, trying to avoid telling her the sad news.

"No, I need to know what happened, where is the baby Sam, where is he?"

Looking around, she noticed the sad looks on her family faces.

"What is it, what's wrong? Please, you have to tell me!"

Sitting down beside her on the bed, Sam put his hands on her arms, "Jess, babe, they…they couldn't save Matthew, he was without oxygen for too long by the time they got to him. I'm so sorry baby!" By now tears are running down his face unchecked, his resolve to keep strong for Jess no longer enough to keep the pain in check.

For a moment Jessica looked around like she didn't understand; only when the meaning of the words finally sank in, she placed her hands on her now vacant stomach and cried.

"Sweetie it's okay, everything will be okay" Leslie tried to comfort the young mother, who just learned the most heart wrenching news any mother never could ever hear.

"NO, it won't be okay, I just lost my baby; how can anything ever make that okay?" Jessica pushed out in between crying, while Sam did his best to provide her with comfort he didn't feel himself.

When Dr. Hank entered the room few minutes later to check on his patient, he realized she had already been told about what happened.

Saddened, yet relieved that he didn't have to be the bringer of bad news again, he said, "Jessica, Sam, I know what you've been through has been a lot. Losing a baby before you ever got to meet him is very difficult. That's why we give parents the option to spend a few hours with their child, hold it and say good-bye. But it's up to you. If you decide not to, we understand and we will give you a photograph and a birth certificate."

"we would like to see him" Sam said looking at Jess then at the doctor

"Okay, I will get him for you!" The doctor said, leaving the room. A few minutes later he returned holding the baby bundled up in a pretty ruffled blue blanket. A young nurse with a camera accompanied him. He gently laid the baby into the young father arms and left the room so the family could have their time with the baby.

Carefully, as if afraid he might hurt the dead infant, Sam unwrapped the blanket from the tiny body.

"Oh Sam, he looks so beautiful!" Jessica said in awe, looking at their son that she would never be able to take home and watch grow up.

"He looks a little bit like me" Sam replied, laying down next to Jess, so both could hold their son. Staying in the background, as unobtrusive as possible, the nurse took picture of the small family.

After giving them enough time, Leslie walked closer to the grieving parents, "Can I hold him?"

Waiting for a nod, she took the baby out of Sam's arm, "Hi little one, my name is Leslie, I am your great grandmother" She whispered, wiping her tears with a napkin.

The nurse continued to take pictures, while Leslie, Melinda and Julie took turns with the baby. At last Julie gave the infant back to Jess and Sam.

"You might not know this but your daddy and I love you and will see you again one day." Jess sobbed, one hand gently stroking through the dark long hair, while the other wiped away her tears.

"Hey little man, I'm your daddy." Sam held his son close to his girlfriend, the woman he loved so much, watching the tiny, yet so perfect body, who was supposed to be full of life and who they were supposed to protect and raise, instead lying limply in his arms, ripped away from them before they ever had a chance to meet him.

A few hours later Jessica parents rushed into the room, having been able to use a friend's jet.

"Mom, dad…" Jessica cried, when she saw her parents.

"Baby, I'm here now, is that him?" Katie Moore asked when she saw her daughter holding her baby.

"Yeah, it's Matthew, mom he's gone!" She sobbed as her parents embraced her.

"I know baby, I know."

After spending a little more time with the baby, the dreaded moment came, when the nurse entered the room again.

"Are you ready?" She gently asked the grieving parents.

Hesitant, yet knowing that they would have to let go, both of them nodded, yet Jessica was having a hard time letting him go.

"Jess, it's time to say goodbye, they have to take Matthew!" Sam whispered into her ear, while tearing up at the realization, this was the last time he would see Matthew.

"I…I can't, it's too hard, Sam. I can't let him go, please, I just can't let him go, he is my baby." She cried.

"Honey, it's time to let him go in peace!" Katie tried to sooth her.

Still reluctant, she laid the baby into the arms of the waiting nurse, who gently wrapped the blanket around him and quietly left the room. As soon as the door closed behind her, Jessica broke down crying. Sam, who was still lying by her side, wrapped his arms around her and together they let their grief flow openly.

It was three days later, when Jessica was released from the hospital, without the child she and Sam created. Her parents stayed in town for several weeks to stand by her during this tough time.

Author's Note: How many teared up, while reading this? I know I did while writing it. Plus I would like to thank my beta for helping me trough the medical stuff she is awesome


	35. Chapter 35

**Disclaimer: I don't own any thing they belong to CW and Eric kripke. I only own my made up characters **

**A/N: I would like to say a big sorry to all my readers I know this is long over due but RL got in the way and I lost focus of this story but I'm back and hope you will forgive me **

**Beta: the most awesome Vonnie836**

OOOOOOOOOOOO

After Sam finished telling the story everything went silent, except for the chirping of crickets. That was until Dean finally couldn't take the stillness any longer.

"So, she just woke up in pain?" the oldest Winchester asked his little brother,

"Yeah" Sam responded, not taking his eyes off the floor.

"Did you even check to see if anything was wrong in the room?"

"No, I didn't have time. I was more worried about Jessica and the baby's well being" Sam replied back, while wiping tears away.

Dean looked up at Melinda, who had been quiet during this whole conversation.

"So, how did you know there was sulfur in the bedroom?" He questioned the young woman.

For a while there was no response. After a few minutes Mel broke the silence to respond.

"That night, after visiting hours were over Leslie and I went over to the apartment and we checked the bedroom. We looked everywhere then I went over to the window and found the sulfur. That's how I knew a demon had been in the room." She said, while trying to keep her emotions in check.

Dean looked back at his brother, who continued to look at the ground and refused to glance at them.

"Sammy, you know we will find answers to why a demon did that, right?" He asked him

At last Sam lifted his head and looked at them.

Nodding he replied, "Yeah, I know and this also proves something."

"What does this prove?" His friend and brother wondered at the same time, concerned by Sam's words.

"No matter what we want, we can never have it, because our past always finds a way to catch up to us. Just look at the fine way it went here. I thought going away to college and leading a normal life would work for me, but it didn't." Sam answered.

No one knew what to say to this, so they sat in silence, until Mel let out a shriek. Turning to see what caused the outcry, they saw Stella standing there.

"Stella, next time warn someone that you are here, you gave me a fright!" Mel scolded.

"Sorry about that, but I came out to get Sam and I just couldn't help myself" the teenager replied with a big smile on her face.

"What do you need me for Ella?" Sam asked, calling her by her nickname.

"Gracie woke up and is asking for her Dada."

"Ok, I'll be up in a minute, can you stay with her till I get there?" He asked Stella .

"I'll gladly stay with her till you get in." She smiled and walked back inside, banging the screen door in the process.

"Well, I should be getting inside now before Gracie gets more upset." Sam started to get up, when Mel remembered something and spoke up.

"Oh, before you go I have some information. I already told Bobby, so now I need to tell you two, also."

"What is it, Mel?" Sam asked, sitting back down on the stairs.

"Well ummm Jessica parents are coming down for Christmas vacation to spend time with Gracie. My sister called me, while we were on that case." Mel looked at the boys and waited for them to say something.

"They are coming here, to Bobby' house?" Dean asked, after she finished talking.

"Yeah, plus Leslie and my sister are coming as well. So it will be kind of a full house and Bobby is ok with it, but he needs our help to hide anything hunter related." Mel informed them of what needed to happen before the Moore's arrive

"We definitely need to hide a lot of stuff. Christmas is in 2 weeks, so things need to be put in order fast." Dean looked at his brother, who was all quiet during this, "You ok, Sammy?" He asked, concerned for his baby brother

"Oh yeah, I'll be fine, I'll just head in now, so good night to you both and see ya in the morning." Sam got up and walked up the porch steps. Entered the house, he allowed the screen door to slam shut with a loud noise.

The two others remained quiet until Mel broke the silence, "I don't think he is fine. Sam is still hurting, I know that much, its hard losing a love one, but someone you thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with is even tougher" She said while looking at the sky.

"I realize Sam is still hurting, it's been only been a month since Jessica died. He isn't going to be fine for a while, believe me I know." Dean could understand what Sam was going through, their dad had never been the same after their mom died.

"Well good night Dean, I'm heading inside too, it's getting a bit chilly now."Mel stood, but felt a tug on her wrist and looked down at the young man.

"Thanks for being there for Sammy, when I couldn't" Dean gave her a smile, before letting go of her wrist.

"You're welcome, Dean" She went up the stairs and walked inside the house to her room. A few minutes later Dean followed suit and went to bed after checking first on his niece and baby brother

**A/N: so how did you all like the new chapter and thanks for reading and i'm back for good now **


	36. Chapter 36

**Disclaimer: I sadly still don't own the boys or spn they belong to the CW and Eric Kripke except for my own creation which I own**

**a/n: hope you all enjoy this new chp and maybe a tissue warning in case**

OOOOOOOOO

**2 weeks later: Christmas Eve/Day**

Two days before Christmas Eve Jess parents arrived at Bobby's house. The days before, Leslie and Mel's sister arrived to help Bobby and the boys clean up the house and hide things. Mel spent half of the day shopping with her sister Julie.

Sam was having a hard time being cheerful, Christmas had been Jessica favorite holiday, but he put on a fake smile for Jess' parents and for Gracie's first real Christmas, as the last year she had been less than two month old. Dean was chasing Mel with the mistletoe but so far didn't have any luck. Jared and his girlfriend were having fun playing with Gracie and Stella was passing out candy canes.

"Okay, so who is ready to eat? The turkey is done" Kate replied walking into the living room. She kicked Bobby out of his kitchen, so she could cook the food. Once she called for them, the first person to run to the kitchen was Dean.

"I guess his appetite couldn't wait any more." Mel looked at the group and walked to the kitchen laughing, followed by everyone else. They all sat down and starting eating the meal then Kate surprised them with a ice cream cake and an apple pie for dessert. Dean he ate 3 slices of the pie.

"Something is wrong with your brother Sam, he isn't a normal person." Mel started laughing, while watching Dean eat his pie.

"Hey, nothing is wrong with me, I just love pie and who doesn't love pie?" Dean responded back to her comment.

"Dada" Gracie squealed. She smashed pie all over her hands. Sam got up from his seat and grabbed a wet paper towel, wiping Gracie's face and hands with it.

"All better now, sweetie." He smiled at his daughter and fed her the rest of the pie that was left on her plate.

After everyone finished eating, they all sat down in the living room to watch Christmas movies and drink some hot chocolate.

"Ok which movie should we watch? We have 'A Christmas Carol, 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas', 'Jack Frost' and 'Santa Clause' " Paul showed them all the movies they rented.

"I think Santa Clause' is a good choice" some responded back to the choices and Paul put the movie in then sat down with the rest of the group.

**Five hours later**

After watching most of the movies, everyone got up and did things until midnight hit to open the presents

"Dada, Dada"" Gracie called out, while tugging on Sam shirt and pointing towards the stairs. Sam turned and picked up his daughter.

"What's wrong sweetie?"Sam asked, noticing her getting fussy and pointing at the stairs, "Gracie, there is no one there." He looked at her then put her down when she calmed.

"Momma" Gracie wobbled over to the stairs. She was the only one, who could see Jessica but then she was gone and the toddler sat down on the floor, playing with her doll.

"Sam is she ok?"Mel asked, also noticing Gracie sitting on the floor playing with her doll.

"It's hard for her to understand that Jessica isn't coming back, she is only a year old" Sam could understand his daughter pain, he never got to know his mom, before she died when he was a baby.

"She will understand when she gets older, plus she has the love of family surrounding her."Mel smiled, looking and spotting Dean on the couch napping. She walked over and placed a spoon in his mouth, before taking a picture. After she finished, she woke him.

"What was that for?" Dean asked all confused waking up from his little nap.

"Oh nothing, just wanted to take a picture." She smiled at him and went to play with Gracie, who was playing with Stella.

**Midnight: **

Everyone was up, except for Gracie, who is sleeping in the playpen. They all gathered near the tree for the passing of the presents. Once everyone had their gifts, they all open it. Dean received a certificate for free pie from pie-world, some socks and a gift card for Borders (we all know what he will buy with it, lol), Sam got an Outsider's book and a gift card for Borders and Gracie got some Dr. Seuss books, a Baby doll and clothes. For the others there were a laptop, jewelry and other important stuff.

"Gracie will love her presents, when she wakes up later" Kate smiled, looking over at her granddaughter sleeping. Leslie walked over as well and smiled at her sleeping great granddaughter and hugged Sam

"You know, we are always around to help, if you need us. We will always be there for you and Gracie"

"Thanks Leslie, I appreciate everything you all did and still are doing for us." Sam looked over at his sleeping daughter and walked over to the play pen and whispered to her "Merry Christmas, Baby girl" Then he walked outside, where flurries were starting to fall and looked up at the sky "Merry Christmas Jessica, wish you were here and Merry Christmas mom." He looked away with tears in his eyes, before going back in.

"Ok, I think its bedtime. Jared tell your girlfriend good night and Stella, you too tell your boyfriend to go home" Bobby smiled at his two kids and picked up the plates from the table

Once everyone went home or to bed the house got quiet and everyone settled into sleep.


	37. Chapter 37

**Disclaimer: I repeat I don't own the boys or SPN they belong to the CW and Eric Kripke. I wish I did any way the only thing I own is my creation **

**A/N: thanks to you all who are reading this your all awesome**

**BETA: the awesome Vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOOOOOO**

**New Year's night**

A few days after Christmas Kate and Peter had to head back to Australia. So it was just the others at Bobby's house. Gracie was running around in her diapers, while Sam chased after her.

"She sure loves playing chase." Mel said, watching Sam trying to get the very tricky one year old.

"She is one adventurous and happy little girl." Stella threw back, as she entered the room and sat down on the couch.

"Hey Stella, what is going on?" The other woman asked, also sitting down and turning the television off.

"Nothing much, just bored. My boyfriend is in New York with his parents, celebrating New Years there." The younger girl sighed then got up, when Gracie ran back in the room and caught her.

"Hey thanks Ella, at least you got her." Sam smiled at his daughter being caught by Stella and took her from his friend, "ok, now it's time for your bath."

He walked out the room with a fussy Gracie

Throughout the day everyone was busy doing nothing, except of watching TV or lazing around. Dean went out to grab some food and pie for dinner. Jared left for his girlfriend's family's New Year's party and Leslie was helping Bobby out in the den with research.

"De, De" Gracie squealed, wobbling into the living room with her teddy bear, the one Dean gave her.

"Hey sweetie, what you want from uncle Dean?" he looked at his niece holding her bear.

"De, De" The toddler looked at him with her puppy dog face and spread her hands out so he could pick her up.

"You're lucky, you're my favorite niece." Dean smiled and picked her up. Setting her on his lap, he turned to the kid's channel.

Mel stood in the corner of the entry way and watched the interaction, noticing Dean wasn't at all like other guys. She smiled and left to go upstairs.

"So this is where she went." Sam walked in the room, looking at his brother, "She really likes you, bro." He noticed his daughter looking at him.

"I guess she got me with her puppy dog eyes, just like you always did." Dean smirked, when Gracie looked at him with a smile and hugged him, "Okay Sam, she is so your daughter."

"Yep, she is my special little girl." Sam took her and laid her on his lap, letting her watch the cartoons.

A few hours later Leslie came in with a plate of food for Gracie. As soon as Dean saw the food, he all but ran to the kitchen to get his own plate.

"Here Sam, I made Gracie a plate of food, but I see she fell asleep" Leslie noticed the little girl sleeping on her daddy's lap.

"She fell asleep 20 minutes ago, all the running around got her tired." Sam looked down and smiled at his peaceful little daughter.

"If you want, I'll place her in the playpen to nap, while we eat dinner." Leslie offered.

"It's alright, I'll do it, but thanks anyways, Leslie" Sam got off the couch and placed his daughter in the pen, kissing her forehead then walking out to the kitchen.

"Sam, eat your food, before your brother, the vacuum eats it all up" Stella laughed while saying it and eating at the same time.

"Hey, I have a fast metabolism, thank you very much/" Dean retorted back, taking a second helping of chicken.

"Thanks for the warning, Ella." Sam grinned, getting a plate and filling it up "So what is everyone doing for New Years?"

"Watching the ball drop at midnight and stuffing our faces with food." Julie chimed in, "But I have fireworks in my car, if everyone wants to blow some up."

"That is a good idea, we can do it right after the ball drops" Bobby responded, getting up and putting the dish in the sink

**10 minutes to midnight**

Everyone headed out towards the clearing away from the house. They waited till the clock said 12 o'clock to light the fireworks.

"Ok Dean, set it up, it's almost time." Bobby handed him the lighter and moved back, watching as the young man lit it when it turned midnight.

"Happy New Year everyone" Julie and Mel yelled out at the same time over the roar of the noise

Gracie clapped her hands, while in Sam arms, when she saw all the pretty colors and father smiled at how she loved the colors in the sky.

"Dada, cowler" Amazed Gracie pointed with her little finger at the sky.

Sam looked up, as all the colors swirled and exploded, holding his daughter, his last life line to Jessica.

Soon after all the fireworks were gone, it was starting to get chilly. Everyone headed inside to get warm again. Some headed to bed, others stayed up. Sam went to the bedroom with a droopy eyed Gracie and placed her in the crib. Kissing her goodnight on her forehead, he wrapped her blanket around her and headed to the hallway, where Dean was talking to Mel.

"What is going on out here" Sam asked, walking towards them.

"Your brother was telling me the fascinating tale of his car." Mel responded back.

"Hey, my car is awesome." Dean retorted.

"Ok, keep it civil. I'll talk to you guys in the morning."Sam looked at them then headed back in the room to sleep.

"Ok, good night" Dean and Mel said.

The young woman looked away, blushing a bit then walked to her own room. Soon after that everyone went to bed. A few hours later Gracie woke up screaming and crying. Sam was just getting up, when the door opened, revealing Mel.

"Gracie, sweetie, what's wrong?" Sam asked picking up his crying daughter and rocking her back and forth.

"What happened?" Mel walked concerned "She was fine when I checked on her an hour ago."

Dean came in, seeing his brother comforting Gracie and Mel trying to help. He walked closer and saw a red mark on Gracie neck, "Sammy, how did she get that?" He asked, pointing to the mark. His brother looked at her neck and worried started to creep up in him.

"I don't know Dean, she was fine in her crib and there is no way for something supernatural to get into this house" Sam reassures his brother, while trying to calm Gracie down.

"Dada, Dada" Gracie cries out clinging on to Sam.

"Shh baby girl, daddy is here now, nothing will hurt you again" Sam tries to comfort her. Sitting down on the bed and calming her, he looked at Dean and Mel with concern, when he saw the mark clearly.

"Let's do this, Sam you sleep and I'll watch her in case anything happens." Mel volunteered to help in case the thing that made that mark returned.

"Sammy, I think that is a good idea. Let Mel stay here in case anything else happens." Dean tried to make his brother understand that he would not let anything harm his niece ever again.

"Ok that sounds like a good idea." Sam looked down and wiped away his sleeping daughter's tears. Getting up and places her in the crib, he kissed her on the forehead.

Mel moved the chair out of the corner and placed it in front of the crib, so she could keep watch in case anything should try to harm the little girl again.

"Well, I'll see you all in the morning. Sammy, I promise, we will figure this out." Dean looked at his niece and brother, gently kissing Gracie's forehead, before leaving the room.

After his brother left, Sam lay on the bed, looking at the dark ceiling for a while, before finally falling asleep, while Mel watched Gracie sleeping. She loved her little cousin very much and had promised Jessica, she would protect her in case anything should ever happened to her. Now she was determined to keep that promise as long as she lived. It wasn't until Sam woke her up in the morning that she realized she had fallen asleep.

**A/N : please don't hurt me. There is a reason for this and it will be explained later on I have a big surprise to explain what happened to Gracie unless someone can guess what is going on **


	38. Chapter 38

**Disclaimer: the boys and SPN belong to kripke and the CW. I have copyrights to my own creation :)**

**a/n: thank you all who are reading this your all awesome**

**BETA: Vonnie836**

ooooooooooooooooooo

**The next morning **

After everyone ate breakfast, the adults went to Bobby's den to talk about what happened last night to Gracie, while Julie and Stella stayed behind with the little girl and play with her.

It was Bobby, who started the conversation, "Ok, so tell me again, what happened last night?"

He pulled over a chair to sit in front of the rest.

"I put Gracie in her crib and went in the hallway to talk with Dean and Mel then came back and went to sleep. A few hours later I woke up to Gracie screaming and crying"

"I went to see what was going on and saw her crying and Sam trying to comfort her" Mel jumped in after Sam finished telling his side of what transpired.

"I came in after that and I noticed she had this strange red mark on her neck. It looked like someone tried to choke her." Dean looked at the group, while recounting the event.

"Oh dear, that's bad, do you know what caused it?" Leslie asked concern for the well being of her great granddaughter.

We're not sure, Bobby has this house tight with protection, nothing can get in" Sam spoke up.

"Well, we can try to figure out what caused this, but I never heard of anything like this before." Bobby replied, looking for some books on his shelf.

Once he found the books he wanted, it took all of them two hours to look through them. Yet none of them was lucky enough to find anything on what could have caused the mark on little Gracie's neck.

"Guess this was a waste of time. We looked through so many books and still don't have a solid clue as what it was that caused the mark." Dean got up, a bit frustrated, "I need a beer and some food in me" Dean exited the room, leaving the others behind

"I guess Dean is right; there is nothing in these books that tells us anything about what happened" Sam sighed and sat back down on the couch with a bad thought, "What if this wasn't caused by anything supernatural, what if maybe I did this?" He looked at the group with a worried expression.

Mel got up and walked over, sitting down next to him, "Do me a favor, get that thought out of your head. You're a great dad to that little girl and you didn't do anything to harm her." She looked at him seriously, until he turned to look at her and smiled.

"Sam, we all love that girl and we all know you don't have a bad bone in you. You would never harm your daughter. So get that out of your mind. You didn't do this to my great granddaughter." Leslie smiled and patted Sam on the shoulder, before she walked away.

After Mel and Sam talked, they all headed to the kitchen, where Leslie made some sandwiches just when Dean came in, carrying Gracie, who is touching his face and pointing at it. Everyone smiled while watching her antics . Dean went over to his brother and handed the little girl to him.

"Here, you take her, she's been poking me for the last ten minutes, it's annoying" The older Winchester sat down at the table and grabbed two of the sandwiches and a beer.

Sam places his daughter in her high chair and gave her a small piece of a sandwich, watching her make a funny face, while eating it. He smiled at her and took a bite of his own sandwich, just as everyone else came in to eat, also.

"Boo" Gracie screamed, pointing at Bobby. He smiled at his god-daughter and walked over to her.

"Hi sweetie, how can I help you?" Bobby looked at her and watches as she spreads her hands out

"Ah I see, she wants you to hold her, she trusts you a lot, now." Sam smiled at his daughter's happy expression when Bobby picked her up and then laughed, as she takes his hat and put it on her own head.

"I guess she likes your hat a lot, old man" Dean laughed.

"I guess she does, but never call me old man ever again, you idjit." Bobby looked at him with a scowl.

When everyone finished, most of them headed outside. In the end only Sam, Dean, Mel and Gracie were left inside, trying to kill time, until Stella walked in with a balloon.

"Hey Stella, what's with the balloon" Dean wondered about it.

"It's for you, silly. I know it's too early, but remember the tradition we give the birthday person a balloon and hopes it last until after their birthday." She smiled and handed it to Dean then sat down on the floor with Gracie, who was watching cartoons.

"Hey baby brother, look I got a blue bal..." Dean didn't finish his sentence, suddenly realizing how upset Sam looked.

Confused he glanced at Mel, who only nodded, then leaned over and whispered, "Jessica's birthday is also on January 24. " Gently she squeezed the younger man's shoulder.

"Can you watch Gracie? I need some fresh air." Sam stood up and went outside.

His brother's attempt to follow was stopped by Melinda, "He needs some time alone, so he can pull himself together. Give him some space"

She looked back at Gracie and watched the little one bouncing around to the music on a kid's show, as Stella laughed

**Meanwhile outside...**

Sam walked to a clearing on Bobby's property and looked up at the sky, allowing a few tears to escape his eyes, "Hey Jess, so your birthday is coming up soon, I just wish you were here to celebrate it." He turned away and wiped the tears off then looks back up "Gracie is growing up before my eyes; she is learning so many new things."

Engulfed in his one sided conversation, he didn't notice Mel walking towards him. Knowing the pain of being no longer able to celebrate a loved one's birthday with them, she decided to come out and talk to him.

"I miss her too, Sam. Jess was my cousin and I loved her. I wanted to let you know we miss you inside, so whenever you're ready… Gracie is fine until then." She hugged him, "You're doing a great job raising that little girl, never ever doubt that."

They stood there in the clearing, not saying anything, just looking up at the sky, before finally walking back inside, never noticing the person watching them. She looked at them with sorrow and vanished.


	39. Chapter 39

**Disclaimer: the boy and SPN belong to the CW and kripke. I only have copyright to my own creation **

**a/n: sorry I had intended to post on the actual day but school and weather got in the way then cw pissed me off so I wasn't in the mood lol**

**a/n: TISSUE ALERT**

**BETA:Vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOOOO**

January 24th - Dean and Jessica's Birthday

That morning Sam woke up to someone jumping on the bed. He opened his eyes to see it was his baby daughter. It'd been a few weeks since the incident and the little girl had forgotten about it. Pushing it out of his thoughts, he grabbed her and started tickling her, making her squeal with laughter.

"Dada top iwt" Gracie tried to wiggle away from him. Sam stopped, watching her run out the room; he followed her as she ran into Melinda's room.

"Sweetie you can't go in here" Sam walked in after her and picked her up, accidentally knocking over a box on the floor. Putting Gracie down, he looked at its spilled contents. Overcome by sadness, he said, "Look Gracie, it's you and mommy." The young hunter picked up the picture and showed it to her.

"Momma" Gracie pointed at it with a big smile on her face, before taking it from her dad's hands and walking out the room. Sam continued to look through the box and finding a picture album and some videos and a video camera. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice Melinda walking in, a bit surprised to find him there.

"Sam, what are you doing in my bedroom?" She asked, when she noticed the box he is looking at and knew that he found the stuff from Gracie 1st birthday.

"How long have you had this stuff, Mel?" The young man stood up and looked with a slightly upset expression.

"The day we left Leslie's house she gave me the box. I didn't give it to you then, because it wasn't the right time." Mel picked up the videos and sat down on the bed "If you want to look at them you can go ahead."

Sam didn't say another word; instead he walked closer and hugged her, before taking the box down to the living room, where Dean and Gracie, who has the picture in her hands, are sitting on the couch. Sliding the video in the VCR, he sat down next to his big brother.

"So, it's a video of my niece's 1st birthday." Dean watches as the video starts to play and Gracie turns to look at the television as well.

"Yeah, Mel gave me it after I found it in her room." Sam looks up when Melinda walked in and sat down beside them. Everyone, except Gracie, got very quiet and watched.

"Momma" Gracie pointed to the television and Dean looked at his niece and said the only thing he could think of,

"Yeah, Gracie that's your mom!" He turned to his brother and noticed Mel had her arm around him as he watched the TV.

The video –

"Look baby girl, say hi to daddy. Babe, you're missing out on all the fun." Jess smiles into the camera then laughs, when her daughter smashes cake all over herself. "See babe, our daughter is having fun." She cleans her face and cuts the rest of the cake and gives it to her.

The screen went blank.

Mel stood up and put another video that Sam handed to her in and then sat back to the couch. Gracie gave the picture to Dean to look at, before crawling over to her dad and sitting on his lap, when the next video comes on.

The video -

"Ok, it's time to open the presents. Everyone, gather around. Babe your missing out on our daughter opening her gifts" Jess looks at the camera "Dad stop playing around with the camera and shoot some footage of your granddaughter" Jess walks over to Gracie and helps her open all her gifts and before the video ends there is one last message "Hey babe, when you see this, I love you and so does our daughter." The little girl walks toward the camera then the video goes blank.

Sam sat there, looking at his daughter with tears in his eyes and Gracie, realizing that he is upset, gives him a hug, while Dean got up and took the video out. Sam hugged her back then wiped his eyes with his shirt sleeve.

"Will you be alright?" Mel looked at the young father with concern. She knew it was too soon for him to watch this.

"I'll be fine; it's just hard seeing anything with Jessica. It's only been two months." Sam placed Gracie on the floor and she wobbled over to Dean, who picked her up.

"Sammy you know you have me and others to help out, you're not alone" Dean smiled at his niece, who was touching his amulet.

"Yeah, I know and I appreciate everything you all are doing." Sam got up and took his daughter with him to get her ready. Once he left, Mel decided to talk to Dean.

"So, I hear it's your birthday." Mel looked at him with a smile, a plan forming in her mind.

"Yup, turning another year older." Dean watched her suspiciously, wondering what she was up to.

"Oh well, why don't you go out and take your brother with you, he needs some fun for a bit"

"I think that is a good idea, I'll try to cheer up Sammy boy. Thanks Mel I appreciate it." Dean got up and went find his brother.

Although Sam didn't want to go anywhere, Dean finally convinced him to come with him. After they left Mel and the others bought a cake and take out for a surprise party the young woman thought of. When things were set up, they waited anxiously for the birthday boy to return. Gracie was asleep in the play pen, when the guys finally arrived back home and walked through the door.

"Surprise" Everyone yelled out when dean came in and Julie brought in the candle lit cake.

"Wow, I can feel the love everyone has for me." Dean smiled and blew out the candles.

"You're welcome son. We all helped, but it was Melinda idea" Bobby walked over and patted him on the shoulder. Dean went over to Melinda and thanked her.

"It was nothing; it's your special day." Mel gave him a kiss on the cheek and proceeded to cut the cake.

"We should remember today also for Jessica, who sadly she isn't with us anymore but I know her spirit is with us."Leslie placed another cake on the table, Jessica's favorite, chocolate chip ice cream cake "Sam, would you and Gracie like to blow out the candle?"

Sam went over to take his now awake little girl out of the play pen and took her to the cake to help her blow it out "Happy birthday, Jess." He kissed his daughter on the forehead and placed her on the floor.

After that everyone took a piece of both cakes and ate it. Sam sat on the couch, feeding Gracie the ice cream cake, who had a cute reaction to it.

"I see the ice cream got to her" Jared walked over with his piece of cake, smiling at them.

"Yeah, but it'll go away. So Jared, how are you?"

"My girlfriend and I are doing well. This cake is awesome" He looked at the group eating.

Once everyone finished eating, they watched a funny movie then soon bedtime came for them all.

Sam lay in the bed, thinking of all the birthdays and special events he would never be able to share with Jessica, because of what that demon did and he vowed to find him and make him pay for what he did. Finally he fell asleep, until the next morning, when Dean woke him to talk about another hunt.

**A/N: due to school and RL It will take me a while to update but I won't forget about this story, i'll maybe update once a week or once a month **


	40. A year later

**Disclaimer: the boy and SPN belong to the CW and kripke. I only have copyright to my own creation. This story is AU**

**a/n: Hey its me I'm back and still alive. I know its been a long time since I last updated this story but from college to moving to another state then to my muse running away. Life was kicking me in the ass, but now I'm back but updates will be slow**

**A/n- some hunts in s1 will be added to this story but other than that this story is going to be different from the TV show. also this chapter is short  
**

**BETA:Vonnie836**

-1 year later-

Many things had occurred during this time, which would change the outcome and path that had been planned a long time ago.

On a stormy night, 3 months after staying at Bobby's place, a surprise visitor showed up -John Winchester appeared slightly injured on Bobby's door step to reunite with his boys and finally meet his granddaughter. After that the three Winchesters would go on hunts together, although mostly it would end up being only John and Dean, as Sam would only join if he was needed. Most times Sam would stay back at Bobby's place, watching his little girl grow up, learn to talk and do more and more without Jessica being there. Melinda sometimes would go on hunts with with the two elder Winchesters, but tried not to go too often, since Dean and she tended to argue about things.

Ever since Jessica died her parents tried their best to keep in touch or visit their granddaughter but of late the calls had stopped and this had started to worry Sam. Mel and Julie worried also, but there was nothing they could do, since the grandparents lived in Australia. One day the call from Pastor Jim with bad news came in. He had gone to check on them and found that it looked like demons had gotten to them, their home burned down and no bodies to be found. The news outraged Sam, why did those demons, or whoever was messing with the people he cared about, have do to this?

Eventually and to everyone's surprise, Jessica's mother showed up on bobby front porch on day, scared and in sorrow. It turned out only her husband had been killed in the house fire. This was when Sam would finally come out and tell Jessica's mother what really happened to her daughter and her husband. He left nothing out, telling her everything about what his family did and about the supernatural world. Mrs. Moore left Bobby's house so live with Lesley in California for a while.

This also would be the year Jared Singer would officially join the hunting world with Bobby or other hunters.

The family celebrated many milestones, birthdays and holidays without Jessica in their lives. Eventually Sam and his brother went back to Palo Alto, California, when his friend Becky needed help with something and came across shape shifters. After that they dealt with many other supernatural creatures and species they hadn't hunted before. When not hunting, Sam helped out at the book store in town that was owned by one of Bobby's hunter friends.

So far that was what had happened after Jessica's death and what everyone went through, even though the sorrow and pain of losing Jessica still lingered in everyone mind. Sam continued to carry the guilt of leaving that weekend whenever Gracie achieved a milestone knowing Jessica was missing out on it. Dean still felt a bit guilty for taking his brother away from the love of his life and lately had been helping him take care of his niece, while John adored his granddaughter and even worked things out with Sam about everything.

**A/n- next few chapters will be the hunt for yellow eyes and some questions will be answered from the chapters before. Also my story is a different kind of version of supernatural **


	41. Chapter 41

**Disclaimer: the boy and SPN belong to the CW and kripke. I only have copyright to my own creation. This story is AU**

**BETA:Vonnie836**

Chp 40- A Vision

An older looking priest was sitting on one of the church pews reading his bible, when a knock was heard coming from the closed doors. Placing the bible on the chair the older man walked over to the door and opened it to reveal a young girl.

"Is your name Jim Murphy" the young female asked.

As soon as he responded back with "Yes I am, who wants to know?" the girl's eyes turned black and she stormed inside.

Realizing what she was the priest ran to the cellar where all the weapons were kept but was caught by the young girl.

"Who are you?" he demanded to know, drawing out a smirk from her, "I'm Meg and I want to know where the Winchesters are now." She held his hands tight not letting go until he would give her the answer she wanted to hear.

"I haven't seen the Winchesters in years and even if I did know where they are, I wouldn't tell you!"

Meg didn't believe him and proceeded to slit his throat.

**Sioux Falls, South Dakota**

A young man asleep in bed suddenly bolted upright, sweat covering his face and shirt. Bolting out of bed, he woke up the occupant of the other bed "Dean, wake up, Pastor Jim, he is going be in trouble, some demon going kill him."

As soon as the words are out, the lights in the room turn on and Dean jumped out of the bed.

"I'll call Jim and let him know!" he told his younger brother, before grabbing his cell phone and hurrying out of the room.

When the door opened again it revealed John. "Your visions are getting more apparent lately, kiddo." he told his youngest with concern. The first vision his son had happened 4 weeks ago and had been about Oasis Plains, Oklahoma, where bugs were killing people, then after that about a little boy drowning in Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin and now this.

Sam sighed and looked at his father, "I don't like them either, but at least its helping to stop things from happening." the young man replied back.

A few minutes later Dean walked back into the room. "Jim knows now and is having some hunter friends over to help once the girl arrives." He explained to both of them in a whisper, realizing that Gracie was still asleep.

John nodded, moving back to the door. "I'm packing up a bag and head down to Minnesota. What if this demon knows about the demon that killed your mother?" John whispered this time to his boys.

Dean looked at his little brother, then at John, "Then I'm coming with you, dad!" he told his father, only making John shake his head.

"Sorry kiddo, I need you stay here in case anything happens. I'll call if I need you or Sam on this but stay here." He explained, before leaving the room.

Dean huffed and sat down on the bed, then looked over at his brother who started to wince

"Sammy is your head hurting?" he asked with concern.

The answer he receives is only a small whispered "yeah", as his little brother lies back down on the bed.

Getting up from his own bed, Dean left for few seconds and coming back in, he handed Sam a glass of water and a pill. Sam grabbed both and swallowed down the pill with water, before handing the glass back to his brother

"Get some rest Sammy!" Dean whispered to his little brother then turned the light off.

**Blue Earth, Minnesota**

After the phone call from Dean, Pastor Jim called a few of his hunting friends, who showed up to help him fix up the place by setting traps for this demon and taking several other security measures. Soon after, there was a knock on the door and Jim's friends hid till they were needed. Walking to the door Jim opened it to see a young girl, the same one from Sam's vision.

"Is your name Jim Murphy" the young female asked.

As soon as he responded back with "Yes I am, who wants to know?" the girl's eyes turned black and she stormed inside.

Ready for whatever this girl would do, he played along, "Who are you?" he demanded to know, drawing out a smirk from her, "I'm Meg and I want to know where the Winchesters are now." She held his hands tight not letting go until he would give her the answer she wanted to hear.

"I haven't seen the Winchesters in years and even if I did know where they are, I wouldn't tell you!"

As soon as he said the words, Jim's friends throw few darts that have been dipped in holy water at the girl, which makes her fall to the floor writhing in agony. Soon Jim and his friends began to deal with the girl and by time John showed up few hours later they had her tied up in a chair, which was sitting under a devil's trap drawn on the ceiling. Being a demon the trap is her weakness, making her unable to leave its circle.

"So this is the girl that my son had a vision of killing my great buddy:" John said to Jim, who nodded, while keeping an eye on the girl. Meg groaned, looking around at the men then smirked, "John Winchester, good to finally meet you and end you soon. It was a bad idea to come here to see me." she said with a evil grin. This got John attention "Why wouldn't I be here" he demanded, which elicited a slight smile from the young woman. "Your boys are going to be in danger, even your granddaughter won't be safe, when I escape from here." she smirked then began to groan in pain. John turned to see Jim reciting an exorcism

"Stop, I'll tell you whatever you want to know" she shouted out, feeling more pain and knowing if she failed this mission her father wasn't going to be happy with her. Yet one look at the men in front of her told her that she already failed it.

**Sioux Falls, South Dakota**

Sam was in the living room watching his little girl, who was going to be 2 years old in few months, playing with Stella on the floor, when Dean walked into the room.

"Dad called, turns out that Meg girl had a lot to talk about before Jim'a friend stabbed her with a demon knife. The girl vessel is being burned right now." He told his brother, while sitting down next to Sam.

"What did the girl say?" Sam asked him.

"We finally got the name of the demon, which killed mom and Jessica and also what he did that night. Dad will be here later to discuss it more with us" Dean told his brother then turned to see his niece playing with a Barbie. For the first time he was hopeful that maybe soon they would get vengeance for both their mom and Jessica.

Miles away the Demon that killed Mary and Jessica screamed in rage over the failed mission and the death of his daughter, as another man miles away finally knew what he had to do and disappeared.


	42. Chapter 42

**Disclaimer: the boy and SPN belong to the CW and kripke. I only have copyright to my own creation. This story is AU **

**BETA:Vonnie836**

**2 days later- Bobby's living room**

The three Winchester men and Melinda were sitting on the couch or chairs. Bobby was also in the room with them, while Gracie was with Jared and Stella in the play room.

Everyone was just sitting there quietly until John finally spoke up, "So we already know this demon as the Yellow Eyed Demon but his real name is Azazel, He is a demon that goes after infants on their 6 months birthday." He said, revealing what the girl told him and what he already knew. He looked around and his eyes stopped on his youngest, when he saw the guilt showing on Sam's face. It pained him to see it there.

Sam sat motionless, listening to what his father was telling all of them, suddenly realizing he was exactly six months old the night his mother died. The Demon came for him, and his mother died, then later his girlfriend died, also because of him. He felt the guilt and burden begin to weigh in on him and it made him speak up, "So…Mom's death…, Jessica…, it's all 'cause of me?"

He questioned his father, yet got a response from Dean, "We don't know that, Sam." The older brother tried to reason with the younger man.

"Oh really? 'Cause I'd say we're pretty damn sure, Dean." Sam said, trying to keep his volume from rising over this revelation.

"For the last time, what happened to them is not your fault." Dean insisted again, which got Sam worked up a bit.

"Yeah, you're right, it's not my fault, but it's still my problem. Because in the other room my daughter, who is your niece, has to grow up without a mother because to me."

Dean knew he needed to stop his brother from taking all the guilt on himself. "No, it's not your problem, it's our problem. We both lost mom because of it and we are going to find this demon and kill him for all he did to our family."

Okay, that's enough!" John shut both of them up and got back to the point, continuing mildly, in an almost gentle tone, which got both boys to quiet down and look back at their father. Melinda felt her heart break a bit, finally realizing what this demon was capable of and unable to stay quiet she blurted out, "We need to kill this son of a bitch not just for killing Mary and Jessica, but also for my little brother. I just hope I get to see him, I so want to give him a piece of my mind!" the fullness of her emotions only partially expressed on her face. Dean didn't need to see more to know, how the demon had effected Melinda and how she wanted to end his life just as much as they did.

For a few minutes he room was quiet, before Sam spoke up again. "So why is it doing it? What's it want?" the young Winchester asked his father, making John sigh, then speak up, "The girl told me that Azazel is doing this to form an army of children from which he will pick only one special child to unleash hell on earth. Sam is not the only child Azazel infected with his blood, there are a few others and we need to find them, before he can get to them."

Upon hearing all this, Dean couldn't hold back to ask, "Do you know their names so we can help them?"

John handed his son a paper with a list of names. "Their names are Jake Talley, Max Miller, Andy Gallagher, Ava Wilson and as you can see a few others. But now he is looking for more, so we need to stop him soon!"

Everyone in the room was silent again until Melinda spoke up again. "So what are the signs that he is close?" she asked the eldest Winchester to which John answered, "Cattle deaths, temperature fluctuations, electrical storms among many other things" he explained, getting a gasps from her, when she realized the same signs occurred the day her cousin died. Quickly she left the room, suddenly feeling like it was her fault Jessica died.

Seeing Melinda leave, Sam waited a few minutes before he went after her up to the bedroom she sleeping in and knocked on the door.

"Can I come in?" he asked, waiting for a reply from the young girl, before going in. Stepping over to the bed, he pulled her into a tight hug. "We will find Azazel and get revenge for all these deaths." The determination in his voice leaving no doubt he meant what he said. Melinda sighed, wiping away tears "I know, but I feel it's my fault, those signs I heard about , they occurred on the day Jessica died and I could have done something, if I knew it was all the work of the bastard" she said with her voice rising a bit.

Sam was about reply, when a vision slammed into him, which had the young man clutching his head in pain, while living through a premonition of a demon attack. Alarmed by his obvious distress, Melinda ran out to the hall to alert Dean and John, making both rush into the room to see what was going on. A few seconds after the vision cleared, Sam groaned from the sudden onset of a minor migraine headache.

"Kiddo, what did you see?" John demanded to know, while Dean closed the blinds to darken the room and make it more comfortable for his suffering brother.

Lying down on the bed Sam managed to tell his father what the vision showed him "I saw a sign saying Salvation and another family being attacked by Azazel and I heard a train in the background."

John knew what his son was telling him and replied by saying, "We need go Salvation, Iowa. I have a surprise that will take care of this bastard once and for all." Everyone in the bedroom nodded. They understood what going to happen. Helping Sam lie down in his own room, Dean and John went to pack for the trip they were planning for the next day.

Far away someplace else Azazel stood inside a cave like place, another person by his side. "If anything happens to me, you are to take over. Don't disappoint me!" He demanded from the much younger looking man, eliciting an eager nod.

"Don't worry father, I'll make you proud!" he smirked.

Both men broke into an evil laugh.

**A/N:** **Dun Dun am I evil or what, anyways who you think the new person can be. If you can't figure it out well your going have to wait for a few chapters to find out**


	43. Chapter 43

**Disclaimer: the boy and SPN belong to the CW and kripke. I only have copyright to my own creation. This story is AU **

**BETA:Vonnie836**

**Salvation, Iowa**

Two men stood in front of a blue house just staring at it. It was still daylight, but barely anyone was around. One of them was eating a candy bar, when the other man started to speak.

"Do you have to eat in a time like this, when we are on a mission?" He questioned the other man, who showed off a grin.

"Little brother, you have lots to learn and also, I don't complain about that coat you wear all the time, do I?" The second man said.

So they both went on silently looking up at the house then disappeared, when two brothers walk up to confirm this was the house the younger of them saw in his vision.

"So this is the house you saw in your vision Sammy?" Dean asked, turning to look at his little brother which got him a confirming nod.

"We saw the train tracks and this is where they led us." The younger Winchester said then turned to see a mother pushing a baby in a stroller, suspecting they are the occupants of this lovely home. Moving away from his older brother, Sam walked over to the lady, when he noticed a little teddy bear falling out of the stroller. He picked up the toy and rushes after the woman.

"Excuse me Ma'am; you dropped this on the sidewalk." He said, handing the teddy to the young mother. The lady smiled while taking it. "Ma'am makes me feel old, my name is Monica. Thank you very much; it's my little girl Rosie's bear".

When Sam heard Monica mention her little girl, he looked down to smile at the baby "I have a little girl myself, she almost 2 years old. Oh by the way, I'm Sam!" He spoke up again, making Monica smile, "Rosie is 6 months and growing every day. Well, I must be going inside now to put this little one down for a nap. Nice to meet you, Sam." she said and walked inside the blue house, while the two boys rushed back to the motel.

**The Motel**

Sam and Dean both walked into the motel room to find their dad checking a weapon over that they never saw before. "Hey dad, what is this?" Sam asked curiously, walking over to the table followed by Dean, who was going to ask the same question. Upon hearing his youngest ask about the gun John looked up at his sons with a smile.

"This here boy's is the colt that was created by Samuel Colt. This gun can kill anything except the devil himself." He told both his sons then puts the weapon away "So did you find out anything?"

Sam nodded and answered, "Yeah, we did, the lady's name is Monica and her daughter Rosie is 6 months exactly, so old yellow eyes should appear tonight!" He told his dad, as dean sat down on the bed.

"Tonight we go to the house and wait outside for the demon to appear then we take action. Dean, you make sure the father, if he is there, doesn't call the cops when we storm in. Sam, you get the family out of the house, while I deal with the demon." John instructed his boys, who nodded, while listening to their father plan. Together they waited for night to come.

**Later that night**

Sitting in the car outside blue house in Salvation, Sam still couldn't think about the moment they were facing, what they've been working toward all their lives, and what it would mean. He needed to say it out loud, talk it all through. Dean, on the other hand, wouldn't allow himself to think about it – he had to approach it as just another job, just like any other: go in there and get it done. Their father was in the truck behind them and was getting a bit antsy about this and couldn't wait to finally kill the demon, who took his wife so many years ago. 

In the Impala Sam turned to look at his big brother, needing to say a few things, before the action began."Dean, uh, I wanna thank you."

To this Dean looked at his little brother, "For what?"  
He appeared genuinely puzzled about where this was coming from. While Sam looked to the future, Dean very much lived in the here and now.

"For everything… You always had my back, you know. Even when I couldn't count on anyone else, I could always count on you. And, uh, I don't know, I just want to let you know. Just in case…"

Dean was the one person in Sam's life, who always been genuinely there for him, apart from those four years of estrangement when Sam was at college. Even then, though, you could make the case that if Sam had called to ask for Dean's help during those four years he was away, his brother would have been there like a speeding bulled, no question. Anyway, knowing how well Dean took the mushy feeling stuff, he just wasn't prepared to listen to this, to hear the implications. Not here, not now, maybe not ever

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, are you kidding me? Don't say 'just in case something happens to you'. I don't want to hear that freaking speech, man. Nobody's dying tonight. Not us, not that family, nobody, except that demon. That evil son-of-a-bitch isn't getting any older than tonight, you understand me?"Dean was not prepared to lose any more of his family to this thing, where this demon was concerned.

Just as Dean was about to pull the cell out to call his dad in the truck behind them, a sudden flickering of lights, a sudden breeze, and EVP on the radio announced the imminent arrival of the demon. All three men witnessed this and rushed out the cars and towards the house; the boys broke into Monica's home by having Dean pick the lock. Apparently, they aren't quite as stealthy as they could have been, or Monica's husband was tremendously alert and was instantly onto them. Maybe the flickering lights had set him on his guard already. Dean had to tackle him out of sheer self-preservation, and then attempted to reason with him, while Sam charged up to the nursery, with John with the colt only steps behind him, prepared to kill the demon. When both men entered the nursery they noticed the demon trapped in place. Sam grabbed Rosie and Monica and while all three escaped the room, John shot the Demon, the bullet hitting the target in the middle of its forehead. Light flicker inside the body before he collapsed to the floor dead.

Downstairs Monica was telling her husband what happened, so he wouldn't call the cops just yet and both boys explained to the couple, who they've been dealing with. After finishing Dean and Sam rushed back upstairs to the nursery to see john leaning down over the demon "This is for Mary, you dirt bag" he said.

Dean walked over to him; followed by Sam, who spoke up "This is for my wife, who you took away from our daughter." he spit at the dead body then left just as Monica's husband walked in.

"Leave now, so I can call the cops and tell them an intruder broke into my home. I can't thank you enough for what you all did!"

John nodded at him, before he and Dean also walked out. Together the three men headed back to their cars and left the area.

Out on the street a man in a coat stood on the sidewalk with a smile on his face, knowing this small mission was over, but aware there was another one that needed to be taken care of soon but in due time. The man in the beige trench coat disappeared just as the police and fire department showed up to access the situation. 

**A/N: I thank everyone who has reviewed,favorite or read the story. It means a lot to me and sadly I need announce that this story will have few more chapters then will be on HIATUS for quite a while due to the fact i'm leaving soon job corp. Its a training program that helps you find jobs in popular careers. So i'll be there for a while but when I come back i'll pick this story up again**

**A/n: chapter:44 the winchesters talk about what happened in the house and feelings between dean and melinda keep on surfacing**

**chapter:45- Gracie 2nd birthday **


	44. Chapter 44

**Disclaimer: the boy and SPN belong to the CW and kripke. I only have copyright to my own creation. This story is AU **

**BETA:Vonnie836**

**warning: tissue alert**

**~2 days later~**

"So you're saying Azazel was just frozen in place like something was holding him there?" Melinda questioned after hearing John tell her and Bobby what happened in Salvation, Iowa. While the three men where gone Bobby did research on the other special kids to see where they were located.

John spoke up, "That's what I saw and I'm glad, because if this demon would have left we would have kept on looking for him."

This time it was Bobby, who made himself heard, "So what're you going to do now that old yellow eyes is dead" he asked the eldest Winchester, which got him a shrug from John "Maybe retire or do small hunts, my mission is over!" He told them both.

"So Dean's taking Sam and Gracie back to Palo Alto, California to visit Jessica's grave?" Melinda finally asked, since the boys came back just to leave again right away with gracie and a small bag. She hadn't been sure where they were going.

John nodded in response, "Yeah, Sam wanted go visit. It's been quite a while and he also wanted to let Gracie visit, since she almost two years old now." He excused himself to get something eat right when Bobby's two kids came into the house from school and work.

**Palo Alto, California, cemetery**

After the long drive to get there, Dean waited by the impala to allow his little brother and niece some privacy to talk with Jessica. As Sam walked along with his daughter in his arms, he could feel the warmth of the sun on his skin. He turned his face up toward the sun, letting its rays shine down upon him and Gracie.

The breeze was strong enough to play with his hair, which was longer now, than it used to be. The passing breeze brushed against his long eyelashes, causing him to blink. He glanced down at his little girl, who was looking around exploring the area

He continued on until he found where he needed to be. Kneeling down in the dewy grass, he placed Gracie besides him. Sam fingers touched the cold stone and brushed away some dust, making Jessica's face clearer. He mournfully traced her features as he tried to remember every detail then watched his little girl look up at him with sadness for a moment, before turning his eyes back to the stone. It pained him to know that Gracie would never get to know her mother.

Sam's chest tightened up and he actually felt his heart break. It was a burning pain in the middle of his chest. Someday he might get used to the pain, but he'd never get used to how Jessica was taken from his and Gracie's life.

There were several minutes of silence until Gracie spoke, "Dada iwts thiws mawma?" She babbled in her cute little voice which made anyone's heart melt.

Sam ruffled his little girl hair, "Yes this is your mother and she loved you very much, princess!" he told her then looks down at the grave again, before addressing Jessica, "Hey baby, it's me, Sam. It's been a while since I came see you; it's still hard knowing you're gone. We finally killed the yellow eye demon but it doesn't bring you back."Sam felt tears begin to cascade down his cheeks, sensing Gracie's little fingers wipe them away.

"Dawdy now sawd?" She said not sure; why her daddy was crying, too young understand it. Gracie placed the picture she made then ran back to where Dean was standing to give Sam some alone time

Once Sam was alone, he said, "Hey Jess," his voice cracking, "I miss you. If you've been watching me from heaven, like I hope you are, I'll bet you're very confused." Sam's face screwed up as he tried to think of a way to explain his life. "I never told you about my past because I wanted to keep you safe. I also wanted you to keep loving me, so I guess that's another reason right there. Sometimes I wonder, if you had known the truth about me and my past, would you still have loved me the way you did? Would it have sent you running in the other direction?"

He looked down at the ground, "Gracie is growing a lot and is about to turn two years old soon. I try my best telling her about you but she still doesn't understand that your gone and never will return. She quite smart for her age, already she knows how read some words in kids books. Wish you were around see our little girl." He said; his throat tightening up as he fought sobs and tried choking them down for as long as he could. Finally the sobs won over. His body jerked as they loosened and everything he'd bottled up for so long came out. He kept one hand on Jessica's headstone trying to steady himself.

"I love you Jess, I always will!" Sam whispered then walked away, heading back to the car.

Dean's hand was a comforting weight on his shoulder, while the older brother silently waited for Sam's sobs to subside. Only then did he wordlessly help his brother into the Impala, where Gracie was already buckled into her car seat.

As the car drove out the cemetery, a young girl watched with a smile as the little girl in the backseat waved bye to her. "I'll always watch out for you my little princess!" she whispered then turned to the man in the trench coat standing beside her, "Look out for her and for all of them. I sense danger is lurking close to them!" Her voice was filled with emotion as she disappears along with the wind to her final resting place.

**a/n: thanks for reading this chapter please review thanks. **


	45. Chapter 45

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or Supernatural they belong to Kripke and the CW. The only thing I own is my own characters**

**Beta: vonnie836 **

~**Chapter 45~**

**A day later – Bobby's place**

Dean finally arrived back at Bobby's place with Sam asleep in the passenger seat and his niece sleeping in the car seat. When parking the car dean noticed someone fixing up a car and also noticed his father sitting on the porch with three beers which made him think there was going to be a talk. Getting out the car Dean walked over to whoever was working on the broken blue sedan.

"So you work for Bobby? I've never seen you around here. Do you come here often?" He tried flirting after noticing it was a female fixing the car. Melinda backed away to look at him "I've been here for a while with you guys and no, I don't work for Bobby, you jerk. I'm just fixing up this car because it's going be mind soon."

Dean felt like a fool after realizing it was Melinda, walking away, when hearing her laugh. He couldn't help smirk, liking how Melinda and him had a few things in common, like they both liked fixing cars, loved eating pie and somewhat the same kind of music, which made him like her even more.

A little while later, after putting Gracie in the playpen to finish off her nap, Sam followed his outside, just as Melinda walked past to head inside.

All three Winchester men were out on the porch, sitting and drinking beer, while discussing what happened a few days ago at the house and to Azazel in that nursery. They somehow had the feeling it was too easy of a kill and decided they needed to go over what happened again and also John needed to tell his boys what was going happen next.

"So Azazel was just stuck in one place like he couldn't move?" Dean was the first to finally ask the question after both boys heard their father tell them what happened. Sam couldn't help but think something else was at play, because usually nothing ever went their way

"Yeah, that's what I'm telling you Ace!" John replied, calling his oldest by the nickname Caleb first gave him years ago. Dean just nodded until Sam spoke up "Don't you think there's something else going on? Demons usually disappear before you can kill them, unless something else was in that room." the youngest questioned, making John sigh "Sammy I don't know but at least be happy this demon is finally dead and we all can move on." Sam nodded, knowing there was no point arguing with his dad. They just had to be happy Azazel gone for good.

Something inside Sam wouldn't let him feel happy though and it was because when he looked into his daughter eyes, he saw Jessica and it broke his heart to know she was never coming back. Yet what he didn't know was that already there was a great plan brewing in the heavens about all this.

The silence was again broken, this time by John "There's something I want to talk about with both of you. I might retire from hunting or maybe just help other hunters out with research or on hunts, now that my mission is finally over."

Both boys looked at their father and knowing that hunting had taken its toll on the elder Winchester over the years, they just nod "I hope that is what you want, dad." Dean looked over at his father then took a long drink from the beer. John nodded, "Yes it's what I want to do, also, I'm not getting any younger!" he said, as a small laugh escaped him, making all three men laugh.

A few minutes later Bobby came rushing outside, "I need you all inside, quick, I think the search for one of the special kids as ended." the old hunter said, going back inside, while the three Winchester men followed him into the den.

On the TV is a man reporting breaking news, "Today in Afghanistan four United States Army troops perished when a road side bomb struck their vehicle, the deceased are Jake Talley, George Henderson, Tyler Monroe and Peter Jones. They all died fighting for our freedom and will be remembered as heroes." After the news ends, the program went to commercials and the occupants in the room looked at each other. Sam started to understand there were only very few special kids left and they needed to be found before another dark evil did.

**Later that night**

Sam was the hallway watching Melinda giving Gracie a bath like every night and smiled hearing his daughter's little babbles. "Wawter fuwn!" she squealed out, splashing Melinda with the water which soaked the front of her shirt.

"She sure loves the water" he smiled, which Melinda startled a bit, before she turned to look at the young father. "Yeah she likes it too much and she tends to get me wet." she said, just as Gracie giggled "Dadwdy hwere" splashing even more. Melinda grabbed the towel and wrapped the little girl into it then handed her over to Sam "She is all yours! Bobby baked a pie and there is one last piece left. Hope your brother didn't take it or he is going to be flat on his back." she grinned, walking downstairs.

Going into the bedroom he shares with his daughter, Sam changes her into pajamas then sits down with her.

"Mawma saw hwer" Gracie points to the picture that hanging on the mirror.

Sam looks down at Gracie curiously, "What you mean baby girl, you saw mommy?" he asks wanting to know.

Gracie looked up at her father. "Awt thwe sad plawce"

sam didn't know, if she had his powers or if since she was little, she was like other young kids and could see anything. Wanting to forget what he just heard, Sam placed his little girl into the small kids bed then turns off the light, heading to bed himself.

Downstairs the battle for the last piece of pie didn't go really well. Melinda had the fridge closed and glared at Dean, who was looking down at the pie.

"Oh no, you don't Winchester, this piece is mine and you're not taking it."She warned him and quickly grabbed a fork to begin eating it. Dean grabs the fork and ate the piece

"Ha I got it before you did" he grins then feels a smack on the back of his head and turns to see Bobby looking at him, "Leave her alone Ace, There's another slice in the back of the fridge I left for ya." With that being said, Dean ended up having his own slice after all.

A few miles away a young female wakes up in bed besides her fiance after having a dream that felt so real then looks out the window to see someone standing there. When she blinks the figure is gone but feels something is so not right and ends up going back to sleep.


	46. Chapter 46

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or Supernatural they belong to Kripke and the CW. The only thing I own is my own characters**

**Beta: vonnie836 **

**November 2nd** **2006 – Gracie's 2****nd**** Birthday**

The Winchesters and all the Singers drove down to California to spend Gracie's birthday with Jessica's three family remaining members at Leslie Moore home. The house was located near the coast, so it overlooked the beach, which was three miles down the road. They arrived at the house late in the evening.

At the first rays of the sunlight shinning through the window, Melinda woke up, so she could start setting up Gracie's party with Katie Moore, Becky and Leslie's help, while everyone else was still sleeping. Since it was a fairly warm day, Leslie thought it would be good to set up the sprinklers, just in case the temperatures were getting hotter, as the weather in California tended to do quite often.

"I think it looks good," Becky said as they sat down on folding chairs in the backyard and looked over their work. The party area was set up with pink decorations; the theme was Disney Princesses, since Gracie loved them a lot.

"Remember, how we said last year that maybe we should go into Interior Decorating?" Becky asked while eating some of the chips that were supposed to be for the party. The table was covered with plates and other stuff common for birthday parties.

Melinda nodded with a smile. "Yeah I remember, why you ask?" she looked at her with curiosity

"Well I'm going to take classes at the local college to learn interior decorating. I'm good at it" Becky revealed, which made Melinda get up and hug the younger girl.

"Congrats Becky" she replied then sat down again, just as dean came over with the cooler. It was nearly noon now and the heat was beginning to go up.

"Hey this looks great," Dean said, the cooler still in hand, placing it down on the ground and giving Melinda with a flirty smile. The young woman didn't notice the flirty look; instead she continued looking at Becky.

"Becky is the decorator, I just watched," She said then she noticed the knowing grin on Becky's face that told her the other girl thought the two of them were an item.

"Thanks Dean! Anyway, where is the birthday girl?" Becky asked, looking around

"Sammy is getting her dressed for this heat, but I really need to head inside and help Katie with some other stuff" Dean excused himself, heading back inside.

Once he was gone Becky spoke up, "So are you and dean dating? I can see the way he looks at you."

Melinda shook her head in reply, "Nope, we aren't dating and that will never happen. Dean is one of those guys, who like to sleep around then leave before you wake up." Both girls continue to talk about this for a while, before changing the conversation to other things.

It was around noon, when everyone else came out to start the party. Stella was running through the sprinklers with Gracie on her hand. The little girl squealing with delight as the water splashed her face. Jared was also running through the sprinklers, trying to cool down from the high heat that is occurring. This was the first birthday of many more to come for which Sam was present, yet he felt that Jessica should have been here also. On this day Sam knew Jessica was watching over Gracie and over all of them. Bobby was standing by the two Winchester boys, while John sat with Leslie, both of them involved in conversation.

"Today is the anniversary of my wife death." John whispered to Leslie, so the others wouldn't hear him. This day was supposed to be a happy, special day for Gracie.

Leslie placed a comforting hand on John's hand "Someday you will move on and maybe meet someone special. No one should be alone and I can tell you have been for quite a while." she told the eldest Winchester.

John sighed, knowing Leslie was right, maybe it was time he moved on and he knew Mary would have wanted him to.

When Kate walked out with the last of the food, placing it on the table, she called them all over eat. "Food is ready, come get it, before bugs show up" she said, grabbing a plate to fill it up for herself.

Soon everyone else got up and headed over to fill up plates of food. Sitting down at the table Sam ate his own food, while feeding his daughter, who was wrapped in a towel.

"No, I down't liwke thawt!" the little girl said, turning away as Sam tried feeding her some of the salad that Kate made.

Dean chuckled as he watched, "See little brother, not many people like salads and that includes my little niece." He said, which earned him a glare from Sam, who put the salad back on the plate and fed his daughter some of the rice instead. Thankfully this was more to Gracie's liking and she ate it.

When everyone, including Dean, who has three plates of the extra food left on the table, finished their meal, Gracie went back to getting wet with Stella. In the meantime Kate and Melinda headed to the kitchen to get the cake and ice cream. John helped Leslie bring out the presents from inside the house, while Becky and her brother Zach sat on folding chairs besides Sam talking with him about things that have occurred in their lives. Sam never told Becky or Zach what really happened to Jessica, not wanting his two friends to think he was crazy.

"Dawdy, now more wet" Gracie said to her father, as the little girl shivered a bit.

"I'll be right back, I'll go change her." He said, excusing himself and heading inside with his daughter.

With the cake and ice cream sitting on the table, they all waited until Sam came back with the birthday girl. And minutes later a squealing happy Gracie ran out the house, wearing a Cinderella dress with a tiara on her head.

"Look who here - Princess Gracie." said Melinda, as she walked over to her niece and knelt down to her level.

"I'm a priwnecss" the little girl said, whe Sam came out the house to join everyone. Kate picked up Gracie and placed her on the chair behind the cake, so the little girl could blow out the candles. After they all sang 'Happy Birthday', which was videotaped by Becky, Kate started to cut the cake into pieces. Sam grabbed two plate to feed his daughter, who ended up getting some ice cream on her Cinderella dress.

"Nwo itws diwrty, i'm nowt a princwess" the little girl got upset.

Sam cleaned up the stain a bit, "Baby girl, your still daddy princess, no matter if you have the dress on or not!" He said which made Gracie's face brightens up with a smile that made anyone's heart melt.

After everyone ate the amazing cake made by Leslie, they sat around as Gracie started to open the gifts that were bought for her. When all the of them were unwrapped it was time to clean up the mess and Gracie ended up playing with Bobby's kids, while several people did the clean up. Sam and Dean went into the living room where John and Bobby were watching some breaking news.

"I'm Tom Tucker with WNTNH 4, bringing you breaking news from Peoria, Arizona. A house fire in a suburban neighborhood killed an engaged couple. Ava Wilson and her fiancé Brady Wittmore perished in a house fire that seemed to have started due to electrical problems."

After that the news it went to a commercial. No one in the room said anything for a little while, until Sam finally broke the silence, "Someone's going after special kids. I don't think that house fire was an accident." He said to the three men in the room, who all nodded, agreeing with the youngest.

Somewhere across the state, a young man, hidden from view, his eyes black and yellow, smirked as he watched the house burn down, while fire fighters try their best to extinguish it.

"Two down and only a few more go, before I finally get him." he said to himself then vanished from the place to go and find the other ones.

**A/n: next chp might be for the search of the special kids or faith but in a different way**


	47. Chapter 47

**Disclaimer: well I still don't own the boys or any other characters nor do I own the show it belong to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my made up characters**

**a/n: thanks to all who is reading. Reviewing, or alerted thank you all. Also thanks to you all who were patient while I was gone. I'm back and hopefully I get to complete this story. There will be a sequel later on in the near future**

**BETA: the awesome Vonnie836**

**OOOOOOOO**

Inside a dark dirty basement two shadows could be seen on the wall, as the angle changed it shows two young scared screaming children running towards a cabinet. A dark figure stood on the stairs making a horrible noise.

Outside the growl of an Impala could be heard getting closer to the house and soon parking out front. Two occupants exit the car and the driver walked to the trunk pulling out two tasers. Closing the trunk, he headed to the second occupant, who standing at the front of the car was watching him. After handing one of the tasers over to the other person, they both walked towards the porch and climbed the stairs that lead to the run down front door.

Once inside a female voice spoke up, "Dean, what do you got these tasers warped up to?" She questioned, as they walked towards the basement door, which was hanging by its hinges, just another sign of the rotting away, abandoned house it belonged to.

"A hundred thousand volts, so this rawhead can be extra frickin' crispy. Melinda be careful with that, you only get one shot with these things!" Dean explained, giving the young woman a small warning about the taser she was holding.

"Don't worry, I know how use one!" she replied back.

Melinda and Dean move down the basement stairs with tasers and flashlights helping light the way in the dark. Soon they both heard a noise and walked towards the cupboard.

Dean looked at Melinda then whispered "On three… one, two, three…"

He swung open the cabinet door to reveal two young children, a boy and a girl scared and crouching close together inside the small cupboard. Both had their ears covered

"Is it still there" Melinda whispered and in return both children nodded their heads in response to the question.

She helped both kids out of their hiding place and held their hands as Dean spoke up, "Okay listen up, grab your sister hand and come, we gotta get you both out of here. Let's go!"

They headed towards the stairs with the kids and began to climb up, when Melinda let out a small scream, as the monster suddenly grabbed one of her legs, knocking her back down. The two children screamed and ran up to the top of the stairs.

Seeing what happening, Dean yelled out, "Melinda…" and shot off the taser, but missed the monster, "Melinda, get out of here now, that's an order!"

"Here take this." She threw him her taser then ran up the stairs and moved the kids out of sight.

After a few minutes, Melinda carefully made her way back down the stairs and spotted Dean lying in the corner, unmoving. Horror showed on her face as she ran over to him "Dean, wake up, come on now." she yelled and kinda slapped his face, trying to wake him.

Her efforts were rewarded with Dean regaining consciousness, groaning in pain "Don't move, I'll carry you to the car and take you to a hospital."

**Sioux Falls, South Dakota**

Sam was sitting on the couch, a bit worried about two things - the hunt his brother and Melinda went on and his little girl, who was upstairs, sleeping away the flu that decided to rear its head right when Sam needed to help his brother on the rawhead case. Because of this Melinda decided take his place and he smiled, remembering the look on his brother face and how he automatically agreed.

The sound of a phone ringing startled Sam out of his daze and quickly realized it was his cell phone. Grabbing it he presses confirm

"Hello" He spoke into it.

"Sam, it's me, Melinda."

"Melinda, what's wrong? I can tell by the way your voice is off."

"It's Dean, Sam and it's not good. The hunt went bad and the doctors said the electrocution triggered a heart attack."

'What aren't you telling me?" Sam began to pace the living room now, just as bobby walked in the house with two grocery bags.

"It was a pretty massive one. Sam, the doctor said Dean's heart is damaged and there nothing else they can do." she wiped away tears while telling Sam the bad news. She'd only known Dean for few months and she cared about the guy just as much she cared for Sam and the others.

"Listen, Bobby and I will find a way to help Dean. Don't let him out of your sight, until we call back, okay."

"Yeah, I can do that, just hurry with something. We all can't lose him" she urged, before hanging up.

After Sam disconnected the call, Bobby looked at him with a questioning look. Sighing, the young man repeated everything Melinda had told him over the phone.

"Damn it! Okay, I can contact other hunters and see if any of them know how to help."

"Thanks Bobby." Sam hugged the older hunter then went to check on his daughter, while Bobby started to make calls to all the hunters he knows.

**Hospital**

Melinda made sure her face looked fine, before walking into Dean's room. He was watching TV, looking looks pale and having dark circles under his eyes.

The young man's voice sound weak as he started to speak, "Have you ever actually watched daytime TV? It's horrible."

Melinda let out a small chuckle, "Oh believe me, I have and I agree with you on that. Anyways, I talked with the doctor."

Dean ignored what she said and continued to speak, "That fabric softener teddy bear, oh, i'm gonna hunt that little bitch down."

Melinda rolled her eyes, before getting his attention "Dean…"

He looked up at her and sighed, thinking maybe it would be a good idea to say something, but her voice interrupted him again/

"I also called Sam and told him what going on. They are going look for a way to save you."

"There is no way to save me. I drew the short straw and that's it, end of story. I lived a good life."

"Don't talk like that Dean. You have people, who care about you and love you. So don't give up, because that's for quitters and you're not one of them."

"Melinda, shut up for few minutes, so I can tell you something."

She sighed, pulling a chair close to the bed and sitting down as she looked at him and waited for him talk. When he did, she was surprised as to what he had to say.

"This might be the last chance I get to say this and you better not tell Sam I expressed my feelings, or I'll hunt you down as a ghost"

"Fine, I promise, now tell me what you need say."

"Fine, Melinda, I like you a lot. I have deep feelings for you!" When his eyes locked with hers, he didn't know how she would respond nor did he expect what happened next.

Melinda stood up and leaned down over him, placing a small kiss on his lips. Surprised, but still overwhelmed by his own emotions, he returned it.


	48. Chapter 48

**Disclaimer: well I still don't own the boys or any other characters nor do I own the show it belong to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my made up characters**

**BETA: the awesome Vonnie836**

**00000000000000**

While pacing around the living room of Bobby's house the evening after Melinda's call, Sam finally had the nerves to call his father and by some strange miracle he heard his father voice.

"Hello"

Sam sighed in relief, "Hey, Dad, it's Sam. Something happened to Dean."

Hearing his youngest voice sound somewhat upset and mentioning something wrong with his eldest, made John reply back, "What about Dean, what's wrong with him?"

"He's sick, and uh…the doctors say there's nothing they can do. Um…but, uh, they don't know the things we know, right?

"Listen to me son, where are you and where is Dean?" John's voice was filled with concern and worry now. Sam looked at the phone before replying, he knew his father would leave a hunt, if either of them were in serious trouble.

"At the hospital in Iowa, near the town of Cherokee and I'm at Bobby's house." he told his father

"Okay, I'll be at Bobby's place in three hours and you fill me in on what happened then." He said, before hanging up.

Bobby came into the room with a smile on his face, which was what caught Sam's attention.

"What is it Bobby?"

"Joshua, he called me back. Told me about a guy in Nebraska. A specialist, who can help Dean out."

"That's awesome news, so we just have to call Melinda back and let them know" he said, already pulling his cell phone out and dialing her number, while Bobby left the room to get a beer and something to eat.

**At the hospital**

Melinda stopped kissing Dean and moves back, realizing what she'd just done in that moment. Dean noticed and did his best to make the atmosphere less tense.

"I'm sorry for doing that an…" before she could finish her cell phone rang and she quickly pulled it out to see it was Sam calling "Hello Sam, what have you got?"

"Bobby has a friend named Joshua, who knows a guy in Nebraska, who can help Dean."

"That is awesome, thanks Sam. I'll let your brother know."

"You're welcome. I need go now, I hear Gracie crying for me." he said, hanging up to go check on his little girl.

After Melinda disconnected also, Dean started to question her, curious of the call. "So who called"

"Sam, he said that some hunter guy name Joshua has a friend in Nebraska, who can help you. So once the halls are clear, I'm getting you out of here and to Nebraska. I think Sam is going to meet us there."

Dean sighed ""You're not gonna let me die in peace, are you, even after what I told you?"

Melinda smack him on the arm then groaned, "Yes, we are going to save you and if you still have the same deep feeling for me, maybe we can figure something out." she winked at him, before leaving the room to check on a few things.

**Bobby's Place**

Sam finally managed to get Gracie to take a bath and eat something, when the door bell rang, followed by the voice he knew so well - his father had finally arrived. Picking his daughter up from the high chair, he walked into the living room to see John hugging Bobby then looking at his son.

"So fill me in on what happened to make Dean sick or whatever it is the doctor said." John went over to the couch and sat down.

Sam sat down beside him, still holding his daughter, who smiled. "Granpwa" she squealed with delight upon seeing John. The older Winchester's face lit up and he reached out, taking his granddaughter into his arms, while Sam began to explain, what Melinda told him. Bobby joined them, while Sam was speaking.

After he finished, John spoke up, "So this is what going happen, Sam and I will go to Nebraska and meet up with Dean and Melinda to see this specialist."

Sam nodded, readily agreeing with his father and so did Bobby "I'll watch the rug rat, while you both head out on this trip."

The young Winchester concurred with letting Bobby watch his little girl and was just about to say so, when his cell went off. Picking it up, he heard Melinda's voice on the other end.

"I got to say sneaking someone out of a hospital is kinda tricky." she said, holding on to the phone with one hand, while her other arm was holding on to Dean as they walked down a flight of stairs.

Hearing this, Sam chuckled "Believe me, it's not but we've done it a lot over the years. Where you at now?"

The young female huffed with relief, when she saw the exit door. "Going out the door and to the Impala. Once we get to Nebraska I'll call."

"Okay, I'll be there with our dad as well"

After they talked for a few more minutes, they both hung up.

Across the state line, in Nebraska, an elderly lady screamed in horror as a man broke into her house and knocked her to the floor, menace and anger edged onto his face.

"You better tell me, where you're so called faith healer husband is now!" he yelled, pointing a gun at her.

"Okay, he's upstairs sleeping, please don't hurt him, he's tired from healing people."

The man chuckled, knocking her out then rushed up to the bedroom, where the old man was asleep on the bed. Walking over to the bed, the assailant smirked as he pointed the gun on the elderly man.

"Meet your maker, you scum bag. I know who you are and how you really heal people!" He cocked the weapon and pulled the trigger

BOOM

**A/N- Dun dun ,any clues as to who the guy is **


	49. Chapter 49

**Disclaimer: well I still don't own the boys or any other characters nor do I own the show it belong to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my made up characters**

**BETA: the awesome Vonnie836**

**00000000000000**

**Nebraska**

The Impala drove onto a muddy field in Nebraska. A house stood in the middle and beside it sat a large white and at this time empty tent, surrounded by emergency vehicles. On top of the tent hung a sign proclaiming:

The Church of Roy LeGrange - Faith Healer

Witness the Miracle

"Come on now. Really, Melinda - a faith healer?" Dean grumbled, not liking what he read on the sign as they pulled in.

"I believe I said a specialist, at least that's what your brother told me. Don't shoot the messenger!" 

"I can't believe this and I can't believe in some guy, who heals people out of a tent. I think it's a bunch of bull".

Once they got closer to the house, they noticed the emergency vehicles and cop cars all around. Melinda looked over at Dean before parking the car just as a truck pulled up right behind them. Taking note of the situation, Sam got out the truck and headed over to the Impala just as its windows were rolled down 

"What going on?" Sam questioned as he stepped over to Melinda's side, while John checked on Dean.

"I'm not sure, we just got here." she replied back to him.

One of the police officers on the scene their way, as paramedics pulled two bodies out of the house and carried the stretchers across the mud.

"You guys can't be here, this is a crime scene"

"What happened here?" the youngest Winchester asked.

"Looks like someone broke in and shot the elderly couple. The guy, LeGrange, was really popular with the town folks. He could heal people with every illness, from cancer to anything else you could think of, or not. It's a shame someone got to him." The officer turned to take leave.

Sam looked at Melinda then headed over to the passenger side of the car, where Dean greeted him with a questioning look.

"So what's going on?"

"Turns out the guy and his wife were murdered. Guess we need to look for someone else, who can help you!"

Dean sighed, "No, let's forget about it. This guy was our last hope. Hey guess I'm not meant to live. Let's head back to Bobby's place so I can spend the time I have left with my friends and family."

Sam looked slightly pissed off about the way his brother talking, "You know, this whole 'I-laugh-in-the-face-of-death thing' - its crap. I can see right through you."

"Yeah, whatever, dude," Dean slammed the door shut and leaned back in the seat. Melinda looked at Sam, before heading to the driver's side.

"I'll meet you guys at Bobby's, maybe he knows someone else that can help." Her voice sounded hopeful as she addressed Sam and John, their eyes following the emergency vehicle and police cruisers leaving the scene of the murder.

**Sioux Falls, South Dakota**

Bobby was the living room watching TV with Stella and his god daughter Gracie, when someone knocked at the entrance door. Handing the little girl to his daughter, who immediately rushed her out the living room, he stood and moved over to the window. Looking out, the older hunter spotted an African-American lady, dressed like she never been outside of her house in all her life. Grabbing his shot gun, he walked to the door and opened it slowly.

"Hello can I help you?"

"Yes, my name is Viola and I'm here for Dean Winchester. I'm his saving grace, here to heal him." she smiled at Bobby.

**A/N- The person i'm using for Viola is the lady who played Bonnie grandmother on Vampire Diaries, actress Jasmine Guy**


	50. Chapter 50

**Disclaimer: well I still don't own the boys or any other characters nor do I own the show it belong to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my made up characters**

**BETA: the awesome Vonnie836**

**00000000000000**

The next day, when John's truck, followed by the Impala, pulled into Singer Salvage yard, the older hunter already was waiting on the porch for them, anxious to explain something. When he saw John and Sam helping Dean walk towards the house it broke the old geezer's heart. He considered Sam and Dean like his own sons, even though he had a son of his own, but family never ends with blood.

"Hey guys, I have to tell ya all something" he spoke up, not realizing that Viola was standing by the door and had the whole group curious as to who she was.

"Bobby, who is this?" Melinda questioned, looking from Viola to Bobby. Sam also assessed her then glanced at Bobby for an explanation, but she beats him to the punch.

"My name is Viola; I'm here to heal Dean. I'm a different kind of healer than the one you guys went to see. I'll explain it all once you get him inside. He can rest on the couch." she said, before walking back inside, while everyone followed.

**Upstairs**

Stella was upstairs in her bedroom with Gracie, who was asleep on her bed, holding on to her teddy bear. She could hear the voices from downstairs, but realized it none of her concern right now. Sometimes she wished her father would include her in cases, but also knew her dad was watching out for her and her brother Jared. Sitting on the book bench, which was situated close to the window, she looked out at the birds, then began to write in her journal.

**Downstairs**

Once everyone was seated, Viola began to explain, "LeGrange was not a real faith healer like I am. I descended from a long line of people, who were born with this power. Roy wasn't born with this gift and when he healed people a reaper would kill someone else. An eye for an eye is what basically happened. Now someone went and killed him and also his wife." she said, addressing the group.

Dean looked around, then straight at Viola "Okay and why would you come here to help me. I'm not worth it?" He declared to the woman sitting in Bobby's living room. Melinda looked at him, not liking his attitude about the situation.

"Listen to me, Dean Winchester, you are important and it's not your time die. There are so many great things you still have to accomplish." She said in a stern like voice.

John had been sitting quietly until now, trying to process everything, now he spoke up, "So how do we help my son?" Dean looks at his father, like he had just sold him out or something.

"He needs to lie down on the white cloth on the floor, then I'll do a chant that will heal him." She instructed, signaling Dean with her hand to get up and lie on the cloth already spread out on the floor.

Dean rolled his eyes as best he could, before walking over to the cloth and with Sam's help lying down on it, while Viola moved to stand over him. Everyone stayed quiet as she began the chant and some of the candles that been burning around the room, started to flicker. As the chant nearly came to an end, Dean could feel the weakness, which had taken a hold of him ever since he'd been electrocuted, slowly dissipate. His head started to spin and he lost consciousness just as the candles flickered out.

Noticing the way Dean suddenly went limp, Melinda started to panic, but Viola stopped her, "Don't worry, he is fine. It's just his body recharging, he will wake up soon" she explained. Bending down, she put a cold cloth, Bobby had ready for her, on Dean's forehead to help sooth his fever away. After that she sat back down on the couch. Healing someone usually tired her out.

Twenty minutes later a small groan came from Dean, followed by his eyes starting to flutter and finally opening. "God, I feel like someone knocked me out." He grumbled, trying sit up. Viola moved to help him up.

"You will feel sore for few days, but you're healthy now." She said, helping him sit down onto the couch. "Well I should be going now; I overstayed my welcome, But Bobby, if you ever need my help, call". She handed Bobby a card with a number on it. "Oh by the way, Stella, you can come in with Gracie" She looked over to the doorway, where the young girl had appeared.

Sam stood up from the couch to take his daughter, who was starting to get fussy in the presence of Viola. The middle aged lady noticed and walks over to the young man holding his little girl "How did you know her name" Sam wondered.

"I know a lot of things and I know that your daughter is in danger. There is a lot of evil out there that wants to harm this precious little child." she explained, then headed towards the door, leaving half the people in the room wondering about her words.

**Upstairs**

After Viola left, Melinda assisted Dean upstairs to one of the guest rooms and helped him lie down on the bed.

"So you're going to leave me here alone?" he grinned at her, which got him an eye roll from her.

"I was planning to, unless you're inviting me to stay." she said softly, folding her arms across her chest, while looking at him in the dimly lit room as the sun outside was slowly going down.

"I'm asking you stay, and maybe we could get to know each other a bit more." Dean wasn't one to get to know a female very well. He usually was the type to flirt and then share a bed for the night and leave the next morning, before the chick woke up. This time it was different though, because he had just met his match and now he felt it was worth to take a chance to get to know her more.

**Downstairs**

In the living room Sam looked first at his father then at Bobby, while Stella was in the play room with Gracie. "So that revelation from Viola is something I have to take serious. I'm not letting my daughter get hurt by the things we hunt" He said with graveness in his voice. His daughter meant the world to him and he promised Jessica to take care of her.

John nodded, knowing what his son is talking about, "I was the same way with you. When you were growing up, I tried my best to not let anything we hunted harm you. Sadly on some occasions I wasn't able to, neither was Dean." He tried to explain

"You both are idjits; Gracie is in good hands here. Nothing can get on to this property, since it's well protected and…" before Bobby could finish talking a small scream from the play room caused all three men rush out the room.

**A/N- there going be few more chapters then i'll complete this story. I might do another story in the near future with gracie all grown up or just one shots. I'm not sure, my life is busy now that I have a job and in a relationship.**


	51. Chapter 51

**Disclaimer: well I still don't own the boys or any other characters nor do I own the show it belong to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my made up characters**

**BETA: the awesome Vonnie836**

**00000000000000**

Chp 51

Sam was the first one to burst into the play room and see Stella holding a crying Gracie close to her. The young teen looked up at him with fear in her eyes.

"What happened?" he demanded to know, noticing nothing out of place in the play room, except for the overturned kid's chair. Bobby and John soon entered the room, also wanting to know, followed by Melinda, who was wondering what the screaming, she'd just heard from upstairs, had been about

"A guy with blue eyes in a trench coat was standing in the room trying to touch Gracie. I think my screaming made him leave the same way he appeared." Stella explained as she handed the crying little girl over to her father.

"Did he say anything at all, Stella?" Bobby questioned, curious if the intruder acted or said anything strange.

"No, he just stood by the window and then knocked the chair over. You said this property is protected from everything!" she said to her father with some panic and fear clearly audible in her voice.

"It is, but whatever this guy is, he might be something we haven't dealt with before. We will look into it, okay sweetie." Bobby tried to reassure his upset daughter.

Stella nodded at that, then left the play room and headed to her bedroom to be alone. Soon enough Gracie calmed down and clung to her father. "Scawry", the little girl whispered to him. Sam hugged her close, while regarding his father, Melinda and Bobby with a look that said 'we need find out who this guy is'.

**Later that night - at another House**

"Itold you brother not to show up at the house, now those people are going to try to find out, who we are and how to harm us!" the man fumed, while eating a candy bar.

"I'm sorry brother, but I needed check on the child and see how well she is doing. I didn't mean for the older girl to see me and scream to alert the family." the young man with the blue eyes explained to his brother

"Just don't let it happen again. We have our own mission to accomplish, so the future we both saw won't happen." The candy guy clarified.

**Bobby's House**

After the drama that happened earlier died down, Sam drained the tub after giving Gracie a bath and put her down for a nap in his bedroom. Dean who was still little sore walked into the bathroom. doorway

"Melinda told me what happened. Don't worry, Sammy we will figure out who and what that guy in the playroom was."

"Thanks Dean, I know you guys will help, but whatever is happening now, I just don't know if Gracie will be protected. Like dad said, sometimes the things we hunted almost got me"

Dean sighed, "I knew dad would tell you sooner or later. But my niece, your daughter will be safe, because we will kill every evil creature that tries to get their hands on her." The older Winchester promised his brother

Sam nodded, hoping it would be true. "Hope so…" he said, before walking out of the bathroom and into the bedroom to see his little girl asleep, cuddled up with her teddy bear. Dean sighed as he also left the bathroom and went downstairs to the kitchen, where Melinda was taking something out of the oven.

"So, what're you making?" he wondered, moving closer to her.

"I made an apple pie for the family, yours is already in the fridge" she told him then chuckled as he rushed over to the fridge

Bobby walked into the kitchen with Jared and John, following the enticing aroma. Seeing the cause, Jared grabbed a plate and a knife.

"Awesome, some homemade pie, I could eat some right now" He exclaimed, sitting down at the table

Melinda shook her head and cut a few pieces for the three men and one for herself, but when Stella walked in, she handed the plate to the young teen instead. "Thanks" Stella said and smiled, sitting down at one of the empty chairs

**Across the Country**

A house was on fire as a young guy walked out, wearing an evil smirk at the same time as a scream was heard from the inside. Soon he vanished, while paramedics and fire trucks pulled up to the house. Doing their best to put out the fire and save the people inside, there efforts were too little too late.

The evil guy stood across the street with other onlookers and grinned, knowing there were only 3 more people to get rid of, before would look for Sam Winchester. Just as he disappeared, another guy appeared, eating a lollipop. "Damn I'm too late!" he whispers with a sigh, before disappearing again.

**Bobby's House**

The radio in the kitchen was playing, when a breaking news bulletin interrupted the music, getting the attention of the occupants of the kitchen. A man's voice started to speak at the same time as Sam came rushing into the room, his shirt drenched with sweat.

"Breaking news out of Saginaw, Michigan - three occupants of a house have perished in a fire that police claim was started on purpose. Police say that they have been to the Miller home on many different occasions and believe Max Miller started the fire. He is the son of Jim Miller and his wife Joann. We will update you as more news becomes available."

The report ended and music began to play again. Dean looked over at his brother, who was kinda pale and shaking a bit.

"Sammy, what's wrong?" he said, getting up and walking over to him. He put his hands on Sam's shoulders so calm him down.

"We were too late; I saw fire and people screaming"

"In your dreams?"

"Yeah, in my dreams and also I saw some guy, who didn't belong there start it. We are losing the battle of finding these special kids"

"Caleb and Rufus are on the case. They found one of them. Her name is Laura and her power is the touch of death" Bobby threw in, thinking Sam should know what the others already did.

Sam nodded and sagging down on the empty chair he sighed, "That's good, but we failed the others."

"It's going to happen, we can't save every one" John tried to sooth him.

After a small discussion everyone headed upstairs to sleep. Sam checked on his daughter, before drifting off in an unpleasant sleep riddled by a strange vision of something he couldn't understand.

Melinda and Dean, who were sharing a bed, talked for a while, before both of them drifted off to sleep also.

Across the country something big was happening that would change the path of the Winchesters again. A man lurked in a room, spying on Azazel's new commander and readying himself. The young man began a low chant as a young female struggled to get away. Taking the opportunity an older looking man rushed forward to surprise the younger one as the room exploded in a white light. Outside things became very quiet followed by a short noise almost like screams then there was nothing but silence.


	52. Chapter 52

******Disclaimer: well I still don't own the boys or any other characters nor do I own the show it belong to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my made up characters**

**BETA: the awesome Vonnie836**

**00000000000000**

**Three months later - Montana**

A lot had happened during the past three months; Dean and Melinda had finally stop beating around the bush and started to date. The first date didn't go so well between them but they managed to fix it when they went on a few more dates. Sam, accompanied by his brother, continued on the quest to help innocent families, while John helped other hunters by assisting them with hunts or teach how to kill the monsters they are after.

Sam was in a hotel room watching his daughter, who was sitting on the couch watching Blue's Clues. He smiled, observing how innocent she was while watching a blue dog help out a guy solve clues. His brother and Bobby were on a hunt nearby and would be back soon. Outside it was already night and one could see car headlights as they drove by. They were heading back to Bobby's place after visiting Melinda's grandmother and sister, as well as Jessica's mother, who was living with Leslie. On the drive back Dean had found a hunt in Montana and decided look into it. During the commercial Gracie turned to look at her father.

"Potty tiwme" she insisted, while getting up and running to the bathroom. Sam chuckled and walked after her, just in time to bump into Melinda, who was on the phone with her grandmother as she entered the hotel room

"Oh Sam, I'm sorry" she said.

"Naw, its fine, I was on my way check on Gracie in the bathroom" he said pointing to the restroom

"Oh, okay good, well I need to continue this call" she smiled at the young man then disappears through the door that adjoined this room to the other.

**Meanwhile - Fitchburg, Wisconsin**

A little girl was saying her prayers just as her father walked into the room to put her to bed. He sighed softly, watching his daughter and listening to her pray about her sister, who was in the hospital. Once the prayer was over, the father tucked his daughter, whose name was Bethany, into bed. After that the father turned the light off and walked out the room to go call his wife and find out, how their other daughter was doing.

Her mother was staying there with her sister until she would get better. While sleeping Bethany started to wig out as she began to hear slight noises. The curtains created all kinds of creepy shadows, tree branches were tapping on her window and what not. As she cowered beneath her duvet, the silhouettes of branches outside the window resolved and turned into the shadowy form of a bony hand, eerily elongated. The hand opened the window from outside and a dark, shadowy figure approached the bed.

The long, bony hand reached out to pull Bethany's bed covers back and all that could be seen of the figure it belonged to was a mouth opening wider and wider in the middle of a face hidden beneath a hood. Bethany screamed loudly.

**Next morning**

Dean walked into the room with some food and a newspaper. He threw the paper at his sleeping brother, which makes Sam startle awake and give his brother a glare.

"Wake up time Sammy, we have a new case." he spoke up, while putting the food on the table. Turning around he smiled upon seeing his niece sleeping on the other bed with her teddy bear.

"Can't it wait until I'm up and Gracie also." Sam groaned, getting off the bed with the newspaper in his hands. Walking over to the table, he sat down and read the front page of the national newspaper

_**Fitchburg, Wisconsin- Local hospital officials, law enforcement and parents can't understand how or why children are getting sick. Doctors can't figure out the cause for some of these children going into coma states nor can parents understand why this is happening. New cases have been occurring for the past three weeks and it continues get worse.**_

After reading this, Sam looked up at his brother "Yeah, this is our case; somehow I sense something else is at work here. Let me go get ready then we can head out once Gracie is changed." He said just as Bobby and Melinda walked into the room both drinking coffee.

**A day later- at the local hospital Fitchburg/Wisconsin**

The boys entered the hospital and walked up to the reception area to talk to a nurse, who was sitting there. Dean managed to succeed in convincing the woman that he was Dr. Jerry Kaplan of the Centre for Disease Control, and even flashed a fake CDC ID card, after which she obligingly offered directions to the pediatric ward. En route, Dean noticed an unkempt old lady sitting in a wheelchair in a private room with an inverted cross on the wall, which gave him pause for thought, before he hurried to catch up with his brother.

Up on the pediatric ward, the brothers talked to a Dr. Hydecker in their guise as CDC officials, lying ever so smoothly, as usual. They were both far too good at the plausible lying. So far there had been six cases in five weeks, he told them, presenting as ordinary pneumonia but not responding to treatment in any way.

"The kids aren't responding to antibiotics. Their white cell counts keep goin' up. Their immune systems just aren't doing their job. It's like their bodies are wearing out." Dr. Hydrecker explained to Sam and Dean

Nearby a nurse further added that the way the disease spread was new to all of them, working its way through families, one sibling after another, and only ever the children. None of the children were conscious, so the brothers ask to interview some of the parents, and were directed to young Bethany's desperately worried father, who was blaming the illness of his daughters on an open window in the bedroom.

After talking with some of the parents and medical officials they decided to head over to where Bethany family lived. They started to scan young Bethany's bedroom with EMF meter and UV light, and other equipment. Sam eventually opened the window – which was mentioned by Bethany's father as the suspected source of illness – to take a look outside and there finally found the evidence they had been looking for: a long-fingered hand print rotted into the wood.

"Hey Dean, come over here, you were right, it's not pneumonia. This is rotted. What the hell leaves a handprint like that?"

Dean stared intently at the handprint and it was instantly obvious that he recognized it and was dismayed by the sight. If his father was on this case, he would finally get his chance to gank this creature.

**Flashback**

A young Dean could be seen studying a photograph of a similar handprint while, a beard-free John finished packing up to head out on a hunt.

"All right, you know the drill, Dean. If anybody calls, you don't pick up. If it's me, I'll ring once and then call back. You got that?" 

"Mm-hmm. Don't answer the phone unless it rings once first." 

"Come on, dude. Look alive. This stuff's important." 

"I know, it's just – we've gone over it, like, a million times, and you know I'm not stupid." 

"I know you're not. But it only takes one mistake, you got that? All right, if I'm not back Sunday night?" 

"Call Pastor Jim." 

"Lock the doors and windows, close the shades, and most important –" 

"Watch out for Sammy. I know." 

"All right, if somethin' tries to bust in?" 

"Shoot first, ask questions later." 

"That's my man." 

Young Sam, meanwhile, could be seen sprawled in an armchair watching cartoons, completely oblivious to the entire proceedings. 

"You know the drill," John told Dean. "We've gone over it, like, a million times," Dean replied.

Sam didn't even look up from the cartoon he's glued to, which was 'Thundercats' , when John left, he's so accustomed to his dad going away, completely taking it for granted.

"Again, if something tries to bust in…" "Shoot first, ask questions later." Dean had it drilled into him

**Back in the present**

Dean looked visibly shaken. This had been the moment the rug had been pulled out from under his feet. It felt like a slap to the face as the long-buried memories of a hugely formative event in his life were starting to flood back to the surface, yet he tried to hide his reaction from his brother. .

"Dad faced this thing before, and since we are here we need finish the job."

Sam was taken aback. 

Later outside the motel, the Impala pulled up in the rain. As the brothers got out, Sam was still questioning Dean, who was playing things as nonchalantly as he could manage, when Melinda came around the corner with Gracie in her arms, shielding both of them from the rain with an umbrella.

"So, what the hell is a Shtriga?" Sam questioned, walking besides his brother to the motel door. 

"It's kinda like a witch, I think. I don't know much about 'em." 

"Well, I've never heard of it." 

"Dad hunted one in Fort Douglas, Wisconsin about sixteen, seventeen years ago. You were there, don't you remember?" 

"No." 

"Well, from what we gathered in the hospital about the patients, we might be dealing with the same thing" Dean replied back.

"Wait a moment now," Melinda interrupted the boys as came over with Gracie "have you noticed the park down the street, there were barely any kids there earlier"

"Yeah, bunch of kids are sick due to a Shtriga." Dean explained.

"Wait, how is this thing still alive?" Sam questioned

"It got away!"

"Got away?" Sam questioned again

"Yeah Sammy, it happens."

"Not very often" Melinda chimed in.

"What else do you remember?" Sam asked his brother as Melinda handed Dean the motel room key, just as Bobby drove up and parked.

"Nothing, I was a kid all right" He sighed walking inside the room

**Flashback**

Young Dean had poured a glass of milk for young Sam, who'd wanted to know when Dad would be back. 'Tomorrow', Dean had told him, 'probably late.' Young Dean had cooked Spaghetti O's for his younger brother, who - being little and contrary – promptly had told him that he didn't want 'Scabetti O's' but now had wanted Lucky Charms instead. Dean had grumbled that Sam had asked for the Spaghetti O's and had tried to tell him that there weren't any Lucky Charms left, only for Sam to have pointed out that he'd seen the box. It was right there on the shelf behind Dean, cunningly concealed in plain view. There had been no reason the box couldn't have been sitting there empty, but rather than using that as an excuse, Dean had tried a different tactic, arguing that there was only enough left for one bowl and he hasn't had any yet. 

Squabbling over the last of the Lucky Charms, Dean had wearily had given in in, dumping the Spaghetti O's in the bin with a very bad grace and getting the desired cereal for Sam because Sam was the baby, who had to be looked after and who always came first. Sam, being an adorably cute six-year-old, had employed his puppy dog eyes again and offered Dean the toy surprise from inside the box as a consolation prize. And he'd been completely genuine about it, too, absolutely earnest in his sincerity.

**Back in the present**

In the motel room Dean was pottering around with a bunch of books and papers.

"Well, you were right. It wasn't very easy to find, but you were right. A Shtriga _is_ a kind of witch. They're Albanian, but legends about 'em date back to ancient Rome. They feed off of spiritus vitae..." Sam explained 

"Spiri-what?" Dean questioned. 

"Vitae, it's Latin; it translates to 'breath of life'. Kind of like your life force or essence."

While they talk, Melinda sat on the couch with little Gracie, who watched cartoons. Sam looked over every so often and thought about how he put his daughter in danger by having her here, while he was on this case with his brother. But he knew nothing was going happen to his daughter.

"She takes your vitality, maybe your immunity goes to hell; pneumonia takes hold. Anyway, Shtrigas can feed off anyone, but they prefer –" 

"Children" 

"Yeah, probably because they have a stronger life force. And get this: Shtrigas are invulnerable to all weapons devised by God and man." 

"No. That's not right. She's vulnerable when she feeds."

Sam was rather gob smacked by this unexpected tidbit of information so casually dropped into the conversation by his brother. 

"If you catch her when she's eating, you can blast her with consecrated wrought iron buckshot, or rounds, I think." 

"How do you know that?" 

"Dad told me. I remember." 

"Oh." 

The fact that Dean remembers so much detail about the Shtriga, when his sole encounter with one occurred over a decade and a half ago, when he had only been about ten years old, stood as evidence for just how heavily the experience must have weighed on his mind afterward. Having said this much, however, he clammed up like an oyster all over again, and Sam decided to let it ride. He stared at his brother for a moment, knowing damn well that there was something going on here, but Dean kept playing it dumb and Sam opted not to press the point, although one could tell he wasn't happy about being held at arm's length like this. Taking on board the possibility of being able to kill the Shtriga when they found it, he noted the finding that it wasn't going to be easy, as it could take on a human disguise, when it wasn't hunting.

"Historically, something innocuous – it could be anything. But it's usually a feeble old woman, which may be how the whole witches-as-old-crones legend got started."

That snippet of information got Dean's brain working. Pulling out a map, he showed Sam that he'd plotted out the locations of all the households that had been hit so far. They were all dotted around the hospital. And in the hospital, of course, he saw that old woman…

"An old person, huh?" 

"Yeah." 

"Well listen, smartass, she had an inverted cross hangin' on her wall." Sam's smile faded as he realized his brother might actually be on to something here. After saying bye Melinda and Gracie, the brothers drove off to the hospital

**At the hospital**

Dean and Sam made their way along a corridor. Hearing voices ahead, Dean stuck a hand out to stop Sam and they both took cover against the wall, while Doctor Hydecker and Nurse Betty from earlier said their goodnights and moved on past. Keeping a sharp eye out for anyone else, who might recognize them, the brothers continued on into the hospital until they reached the room of the old lady Dean saw earlier. Dean pulled out his gun and Sam opened the door for his brother to move through ahead of him.

The room was dark but the old lady was still sitting there in her wheelchair. Sam also pulled out a gun as Dean approached her, peering cautiously at her, getting closer and closer…

"Who the hell are you?" She asked them sharply.

Dean almost jumped out of his skin, leaping backwards and crashing into a cabinet. Sam also jumped startled.

"Who's there? You tryin' to steal my stuff? They're always stealin' around here." 

"No, ma'am, we're maintenance. We're sorry, we thought you were sleeping." 

"Oh, nonsense, I was sleeping' with my peepers open! And fix that crucifix, would yah? I've asked four damn times already." One tap and the crucifix fell the right way up again.

**Back at the motel**.

It was wet and windy again. Young Michael and his brother Asher slept peacefully in their room as a shadowy form of a long, bony hand resolved itself among the silhouettes of tree branches outside, and opened the window.

**Next morning**

Everyone woke to ambulance sirens coming into the parking lot of the motel. Both brothers rushed to get dressed then ran out just in time to see two paramedics with a stretcher hurry towards the office then come back out a few minutes later with a young child on it.

Walking to the front office they noticed young Michael sitting nearby looking unhappy and wandered over to ask what happened.

Michael told them that his little brother was being taken to the hospital with pneumonia and that he was blaming himself fiercely for leaving the window open. This self-flagellation stroke a resounding chord with Dean and he instantly strove to reassure the boy. 

"Listen to me, I can promise you that this is not your fault, okay?" 

"It's my job to look after him." Michael said with a sad almost voice.

Sam eyed Dean curiously, noticing how personal he was taking this, up and above the big brother vibe he shared with Michael.

Joanna, the kid's mother, appeared at that moment, arms loaded with blankets and teddies, preparing to go and sit with her son in hospital. Michael, apparently, was being left home alone, while she was doing this, under strict instructions to turn on the 'no vacancy' sign and with someone organized to cover room service. Michael protested that he wanted to go with her to see his brother, but she was adamant that he wasn't coming. That was when Dean intervened.

"Hey, Michael, I know how you feel, okay? I'm a big brother, too. But you gotta go easy on your mom right now, okay?"

Joanna was in a terrible state of nerves, afraid for her little boy's life and Dean instantly leapt into knight-in-shining-armor mode, insisting that he drive her to the hospital, rather than let her go alone in such a state of distress. He was a complete stranger to her, just a random customer staying at her motel for a couple of nights. He could be anyone, but finally she agreed, handing over her car keys. Before heading around to the driver's side, Dean leaned closer to Sam for a vehement private parting shot.

"We're gonna kill this thing. I want it dead, you hear me?"

Sam informed Melinda of what was going on and what he and Dean were planning to do. The young female nodded and agreed to stay in the motel with the little girl.

**A.W. Stowe Public Library**

Sam was beavering away with the research, and picked up his phone to call Dean, who was still at the hospital. Searching through old newspapers on microfiche, Sam had unearthed a huge number of cases involving the Shtriga coming out of hibernation to hit a new town every 15-20 years.

"Dean, this thing is just gettin' started in Fitchburg. In all these other places, it goes on for months, hitting dozens of kids, before it finally moves on. Kids just languish in comas and then they die."

That's pretty grim news, with so many children already desperately ill. The earliest case Sam had found was in the 1890s and as he spoke to his brother, he pulled up a photograph from one of the articles. 

"Whoa." 

"Sam?" 

"Hold on. I'm lookin' at a photograph right now of a bunch of doctors standing around a kid's bed. One

of the doctors is Hydecker." 

"And?" 

"And this picture was taken in 1893."

Cold, hard fury flooded across Dean's face as he turns to see Doctor Hydecker tending to young Asher and reassuring Joanna, every inch the caring health professional Yet he kept his cool and didn't let anything slip when Hydecker came across and asked, if the CDC had come up with anything.

"Well, we're still workin' on a few theories. You'll know something as soon as we do." 

"Well, nothing's more important to me than these kids." The doctor informed Dean.

Back at the motel, Sam and Dean stalked around the room raging at each other, each equally appalled and disgusted by the discovery of the Shtriga's cunning disguise. Melinda was just sitting there watching both of them, while Gracie was in the bedroom sleeping.

"So this doctor guy, who is supposed to be protecting and helping these kids, is actually the one who made these kids sick?" Melinda asked both brothers.

"Exactly" Dean replied back as he started to calm down slightly.

"We should have thought of this before. A doctor's a perfect disguise, you're trusted and that way you can control the whole thing." 

"Huh, that son of a bitch." 

"I'm surprised you didn't draw on him right there." 

"Yeah, well, first of all, I'm not gonna open fire in a freakin' pediatrics ward." 

"Good call." 

"Second, it wouldn't have done any good, because the bastard's bullet-proof unless he's chowin' down on somethin'. And third, I wasn't packin', which is probably a real good thing, 'cause I probably would've just burned a clip in him for principle alone." 

"Getting' wise in your old age, Dean."

"Damn right. So now I know how we're gonna get it."

The Shtriga worked through siblings, Dean explained, and since last night it went after Asher, chances were it would come for Michael tonight. Sam immediately suggested that they would have to get Michael away, somewhere the Shtriga wouldn't find him, but Dean said no. The plan was to use the boy as bait. Sam was horrified at the suggestion, but as much as Dean empathized so strongly with the boy, he insisted that it was the only way.

While they were discussing things, a man was watching from outside the room they were staying in. He smirked. "Tonight I'm going to change tactics" he chuckled then disappeared.

"Michael's a kid. And I'm not gonna dangle him in front of that thing like a worm on a hook." 

"There's a reason why we are here and why this is kinda personal" Dean finally confessed to his brother

"What are you saying" Sam questioned.

"This isn't about you, Sam" He turned away. "All right, I'm the one that screwed up. It's my fault. There's no telling how many kids have gotten hurt because of me."

Frustrated and confused, Sam demanded to know, what he was talking about. Finally he lost patience, since it has been obvious from the start that Dean was taking the case very personal for reasons unknown, but was trying to keep that fact hidden.

"Dean, you've been hiding something from the get-go. Since when does Dad bail on a hunt? Since when does he let something get away? Now, talk to me, man. Tell me what's going' on."

When Dean finally started to speak, the brothers were on opposite sides of the room. Dean moved to sit on the bed, keeping his face turned away from Sam, unable to look him or Melinda in the eyes as he told the story.

**Flashback - Fort Douglas, Wisconsin**

After three nights cooped up in that grimy little motel room, Dean explained, he had been climbing the walls and needed some air. Going stir crazy with boredom, young Dean had decided to leave the motel room to get some air after first checking on young Sam, who had been fast asleep in bed. The bedroom door faced towards the front door, so that Sam could be seen from there if it was left ajar.

Dean had left the room, carefully locking the door behind him and had wandered across the yard to an arcade onsite, where he had been playing video games till closing. Returning to the motel room, the first thing Dean had seen, had been that the bedroom door now had been closed, hiding Sam from view. Alarmed and immediately knowing that something had been wrong, he slowly had crossed the room, pushing the bedroom door open and seeing the Shtriga bending over Sam, sucking the life force from him. Dean had clearly been frightened, but hadn't panicked, but instead had slowly reached for the shotgun beside the door and had carefully taken aim…

The Shtriga had heard the gun being cocked and had looked up, now no longer feeding and at very moment John had burst into the room, yelling at Dean to get down, and emptying his automatic into the Shtriga. John had kept firing as the Shtriga had crashed out of the window, until the gun had clicked empty and then he'd turned his attention to Sam, who'd woken up perfectly fine and wondering what all the fuss had been about. John had hugged him tightly as a badly shaken Dean had crept fearfully into the room.

"What happened?" 

I…I just went out." 

John had looked horrified, "What?" 

"J…just for a second. I'm sorry." 

"I told you not to leave this room. I told you not to let him out of your sight!"

Holding Sam close, John's face and voice had been filled with anger and disappointment, even with a touch of disgust as he'd berated his older son and that memory had very obviously etched itself into Dean's memory, remaining with him ever since.

**Back in the present**

"Dad just grabbed us and booked, dropped us off at Pastor Jim's about three hours away. By the time he got back to Fort Douglas, the Shtriga disappeared. It was just gone. It never resurfaced until now. Dad never spoke about it again. I didn't ask, but he, uh, he looked at me different, you know, which was worse. Not that I blame him. He gave me an order, and I didn't listen. I almost got you killed." 

Sam looked at his brother with deep sympathy and so did Melinda: "You were just a kid." she stated.

"Don't…don't", Dean finished telling the story with tears in his eyes. Melinda got up from the couch and hugged her boyfriend and whispering something soothing into his ear. Sam was now sitting next to him, watching his brother and Melinda embrace.

A little bit later, after Dean had calmed down, both boys decided head out to talk with Michael, while Melinda lay down on the couch so take a nap, oblivious to the danger Gracie would soon be in.

Unsure how to explain things to Michael so the kid would believe him, Dean finally decided just to start. "Hang on a second. Just listen to me. You have to believe me, okay? This thing came through your window, and it attacked your brother. Now, I've seen it. I know what it looks like, 'cause it attacked my brother once, too." 

"This thing – is it like…it has this long, black robe?" 

"You saw it last night, didn't you?" 

"I thought I was havin' a nightmare." 

"I'd give anything not to tell you this, but sometimes, nightmares are real." 

"So, why _are_ you telling me?" 

"Because we need your help"

But Michael refused and no one really could blame him for it. Back in the motel room, Dean bemoaned the fact, while Sam was amused and wondered what more he expected, pointing out that even an adult couldn't be expected to do something like this, much less a kid. Which is, of course, was exactly the same reason, why Dean couldn't be held responsible for the Shtriga attacking Sam all those years ago. Melinda still on the couch in a deep sleep during this conversation.

Just then there was a knock at the door. It was Michael, who had time to think about everything Dean had told him. He asked, if killing the Shtriga would make Asher better and Dean answered him honestly that they didn't know, treating him with respect and equality, rather than talking down to him.

"You said you're a big brother?" 

"Yeah" 

"You'd take care of your little brother? You'd do anything for him?" 

"Yeah, I would." 

"Me, too. I'll help."

After that all three left the room to go plan things out, while meanwhile in the bedroom the window opened and a loud cry had Melinda bolting from the couch and into the bedroom. What was in the room horrified Melinda as she let out a scream. This in turn made the creature bolt out of the room. Melinda slammed the window shut and locked it then tried to wake up the little girl. Grabbing the cell phone, her hand shook as she called Sam without success, as he and his brother were busy in Michael bedroom.

Dean was setting up a camera in Michael's room, while Sam monitored the live feed from another room. Dean explained carefully to Michael what exactly was going to happen, making sure he understood every detail and knew that he could still pull out if he wanted to.

While Dean was talking with the young boy, Sam heard his phone ring and finally picked it up. What he heard on the end nearly makes him bolt out of there, alerting his brother, who rushed to his side.

"What's wrong Sammy?" he demanded to know as both hands held down the younger, who seemed on the verge of a panic attack.

"That thing attacked Gracie. I knew bringing her here wasn't a good idea. I need to go, check on her"

"Not now, we need to get this creature and kill it. She going be fine" Dean looked his brother in the eyes.

**A/N: Any one reading please leave reviews so I know people are reading this**


	53. Chapter 53

**Disclaimer: well I still don't own the boys or any other characters nor do I own the show it belong to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my made up characters**

**BETA: the awesome Vonnie836**

**00000000000000**

An hour later they spotted the Shtriga on its way into Michael's room. The boy was still awake, sitting up in bed and watching it coming for him. Sam and Dean got their guns ready and waited, watching the creature get closer and closer to Michael. It couldn't be killed unless it was feeding. The camera started to fritz out, affected by the presence of the supernatural entity and finally the Shtriga latched onto the kid and started to feed.

Dean and Sam burst into the room, yelling at the Shtriga and waiting until Michael rolled off the bed before starting to fire. When the shooting ended, Dean called out to check if Michael was all right and to warn him to sit tight and wait a bit longer, before he went to check on the Shtriga. Advancing on the fallen monster, he was unable to tell if it was alive or dead.

It was alive. The moment Dean glanced away and Sam lowered his gun, it moved, grabbing Dean by the neck and flinging him across the room into a shelve unit on the wall, which collapse all over him. Then it went for Sam, knocking the gun from his hand and throwing him onto the bed, before grabbing him by the neck and starting to feed from him.

"Hey!" It was Dean, blood trickling from a cut on his head, but otherwise back in the game. The Shtriga glanced up, but continued to feed, which was a fatal mistake. Seeing it feeding on Sam like this brought back the worst kind of memories in Dean, yet now he was no longer an inexperienced kid, but a seasoned hunter, who knew exactly what to do. He coolly shot it straight through the head and this time it was a certain kill. "You okay, little brother?" he worriedly called out.

Sam was too breathless to respond, but if he would have, he'd probably come back with something along the lines of: 'dude, I'm taller than you'. As it was, all he could manage was a shaky thumbs up. Just for good measures Dean pumped a few more bullets into the Shtriga. Finally he could lay a personal demon which had haunted him for years to rest. Wisps of stolen life forces could be seen leaving the Shtriga and drifting off into the atmosphere as it crumbles into dust. Dean, sounding a little shaky and out of breath himself, began to reassure a hugely relieved and awestruck Michael that it finally was safe to come out.

A short time later Sam burst into the motel room to find Melinda sitting on the couch, holding a crying Gracie. The young father took the little girl from her and held her like she was his life force. Dean walked in only a moment later and going over to his girlfriend, gave her a big, comforting hug.

"Shhh, baby girl, daddy here, you're safe now. That mean old thing won't hurt you ever again!" He whispered to his little girl, whose crying turned into hiccups as she clung to her father. Sam continued to hold her until she calmed completely. He started to realize that no matter what he would do to protect her; there would always be things that would try to hurt her.

Looking up, he caught Melinda whispering, "I'm sorry!"

"It's okay; you couldn't know it would come for her." He reassured her.

**The next morning**

Melinda and Dean loaded the Impala, ready to leave town, while Sam buckled his daughter into the car seat. The case was closed and Joanna had just arrived home, after spending the night at the hospital with one son, while the other one was having an extraordinary adventure at home, which he certainly would never tell his mother about. Michael came running to find out, how his brother was. There was good news, Joanna reassured him - Asher was going to be fine. None of the doctors could explain it, she continued – it truly was a miracle. A man-made miracle, as Dean and Sam well knew, having manufactured it with enormous effort and as Michael also knew, but wisely opted not to mention. They congratulated her and learn that the other children were also recovering, while Doctor Hydecker mysteriously didn't show up for work today and seemed to have disappeared. Only for a split second did the brothers wonder what the hospital would make of his disappearance in the long-term. Joanna took Michael with her to visit his brother and Sam and Dean watch as they left.

"It's too bad." 

"Oh, they'll be fine." 

"No, that's not what I meant. I meant Michael; he will always know there are things out there in the dark. He'll never be the same, you know? Sometimes I wish that…."

"What?" 

"I wish I could have that kind of innocence." 

"If it means anything, sometimes I wish you could, too."

Melinda looked over at Joanna and thought about her two sons for a moment, knowing one of them had seen something he shouldn't. Just like how she saw something as kid and it changed her whole life also. Getting in the car, she sat in the back with Gracie, who was holding on to her bear.

Finally the Impala took off and headed back to Bobby's place. This hunt changed things. What they didn't know was that there had been something else in that room with Gracie when the monster had attacked; something that scared it away and let it to attack first Michael and then Sam, leading to it being killed by Dean.

"Goodbye Gracie, see you soon. Your family will meet me soon" the man whispered, while watching the car drive away from the hotel and onto the highway, completely unaware that something else supernatural would soon enter their life.


	54. Chapter 54

******Disclaimer: well I still don't own the boys or any other characters nor do I own the show it belong********s******** to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my made up characters**

******BETA: the awesome Vonnie836**

******00000000000000**

They were on the drive back to Bobby's house, only about an hour away from Singer Salvage Yard, when all hell broke loose. One minute all occupants in the car were listening to music or relaxing when another car decides to mess with them.

"Son of a bitch" Dean said in an irritated tone of voice as he tried to speed up, yet even that didn't work.

"Where did they come from" Melinda asked, her voice expressing fear and worry, while Gracie chose exactly that moment to wake up and cry. Immediately the young woman attempted to sooth the little girl.

"There are like two cars on us Dean." Sam announced while looking at the back and trying to comfort his daughter at the same time.

"Don't you think I know that?" Dean grumbled, as he tried to increase their speed, while yet another car decided to hit them from the front, which pushed the car slightly backwards before it stopped moving.

"Cover Gracie up with this!" Sam demanded, handing Melinda a blue blanket. Quickly doing so, she noticed several people walking towards the Impala.

Dean drew his gun and cocked it, with Sam immediately following his example. One of the people was a guy, who appears to be in his late 30's. He now came over and knocked on the window. When Dean didn't open it, he became visibly upset, his eyes turning black and an instant later the window shattered into thousands of tiny pieces... Melinda let out a small shriek as another window in the back fractured. Sam rushed out the car, drawing the demon killing knife in the process, but quickly found himself knocked out by one of the others.

"Oh god, they are after Gracie!" Melinda panicked, as Dean was pulled out of the car by a strong demon. She wrapped her body around the little girl and held on to her as tightly as she could.

Outside the car Sam slowly started coming back to consciousness, just in time see two demons trying to get inside the car, while his brother is fighting off two others. "Dean here" he shouted, throwing the demon knife to Dean, who caught it and managed to kill one of the demons while the other one turned to flee but for some reason couldn't. It was almost like something was holding him back.

In the car Gracie screamed under the blanket as a demon appeared inside and tried to pry Melinda away from her. "Get away from her, you scumbag!" Sam shouted as he pulls the demon out of the car.

In that instant a stranger appeared out of nowhere, wearing a beige trench coat and pressing his hands on to the other 5 demons. A light escaped from them and all fell to the ground dead. Dean turned to advance on their rescuer, unsure if he was on their side or not, when the man started to speak.

"I wouldn't do that Dean Winchester, I'm not here to harm you or anyone else." He said, which prompted Sam and Melinda to come out of the car with a scared and crying Gracie.

"Who the hell are you?" Dean demanded to know, holding the slightly bloody knife out in front of him, just in case he needed to dispatch this dude.

"My name is Castiel, I'm an angel of the Lord and Gracie Mary Winchester's Guardian Angel" He explained to the three adults, when another guy appeared, making the mess disappear.

"Glad you got here in time brother, I need to be heading out, before Uriel catches wind of what we did here." the other man said and vanished.

Dean looks at his brother, whose face looked just as confused as Melinda's. The angel began to walk closer to them until Sam pointed the gun at him. There was no way he was letting some angel, or whoever this dude was, get close to his daughter

"Samuel Winchester, I'm not here to harm your daughter. It has been trusted upon me to protect this child from anything ever trying to harm her. So far it has worked" he told them.

Dean, who had enough of this, stepped forward to punch the guy but when he did, he recoiled as pain radiated through his hand "Son of a bitch, feels like I hit a freaking wall" he exclaimed as he walked away so try calm the pain down.

Castiel stepped forward once again, just as Gracie peeked out from underneath the blanket and stared at him.

"Hi" the little girl said, not at all scared of the man. Sam moved closer, still in protective mode as Castiel stopped to first look at the little girl then at her father.

"I know you have questions about me and all this. I'll make you feel better when I tell you that I was with Jessica Moore the night she died." Castiel told Sam, whose eyes widened at the revelation.

"You bastard were there and didn't do anything to save her, nor did you try protect them!" He blew up, his anger rising to the surface. Melinda, who was still holding Gracie, went back to the car, while Dean stepped beside his brother.

"Jessica wasn't allowed to live. Destiny foretold her death and we weren't allowed to change it. But I changed enough to allow you to have some closure. I'm only allowed to protect Gracie, that's what guardian angels do. For Matthew it was a different issue, he was doomed from the time he was conceived." Castiel finally revealed to Sam about his son, who never made it to birth.

Sam took a step forward, getting ready to punch this guy, when he felt his brother's hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at Dean then back at the angel to see he was gone.

"Son of a bitch, he's gone." He grumbled angrily, which made Dean smack some sense into his brother's head.

"We need to get back to Bobby and talk with dad about this. Some serious shit is going on, if this so called angel is down here now." He said, pushing Sam back towards the car. Once inside, he took off down the road, not stopping again until they reach Bobby's place.


	55. Chapter 55

******Disclaimer: well I still don't own the boys or any other characters nor do I own the show it belong********s******** to kripke and the cw. The only thing I own is my made up characters**

******BETA: the awesome Vonnie836**

******00000000000000**

"So how are we going to deal with this supposed angel named Castiel?" John asked both of his boys after Dean got through telling the eldest Winchester what had happened during their drive back to Bobby's place. John wasn't too happy about the broken windows in the Impala, nor the story his son told him.

"Maybe we need to trap this angel and figure out more about what he not telling us?" Sam suggested to both of them.

"We could, but first we need find out where and when to do this." Dean replied to his brother suggestion.

Melinda was standing behind the closed door to the den while all three men talked, while Grace was sleeping in the guest room upstairs and Bobby was in town buying food for dinner. The two

Singer kids were out of the house for the day, so it almost quiet.

"We can ask Bobby when he comes back, if he knows of a way we can trap and question this angel some more. If he really knows more about my granddaughter and other stuff we need to know, so we can be prepared." John said as he sits back down.

Both boys nodded in agreement with their father, when they heard a noise outside. Looking out the window Dean saw Bobby pulling into the driveway of the salvage yard. A few minutes later the older hunter appeared in the den, after putting the groceries and take out in the kitchen.

"So about this angel you guys mentioned, found any way on how trap him?" Bobby questioned, while sitting down in an empty chair. The door was half open so Melinda could hear every word.

"Do you know of a warehouse or abandoned place, where we can trap this so called angel of the lord without being disturbed?" Dean asked.

"There are a few, but the closest would be a barn 2 miles from here, which is quite a ways from the road. We can use it to summon this angel and try to find out more." Bobby told them.

After they discussed the plan and the rolls each of them were going to play in it, all four left the den and headed to the kitchen. On the way they passed Melinda, who was still in the hall and Dean stopped next to his girlfriend.

"You okay, you're not injured?" Dean asks while looking at her.

"No injuries, just a bit shaken up by what happened today." She confessed to him.

"It's all going to be fine baby. Once we trap and question this so called angel, we will know more about things" he assure her, moving towards his girl then his face inched closer to her mouth until their lips connected. Melinda could only nod as she felt her boyfriend lips connects with hers and they continued to kiss other until Sam interrupted.

"Food's going get cold, if ya both don't hurry." The youngest Winchester said, before leaving them alone. Walking away, he chuckled at hearing his brother comment.

Later that night all 4 men headed out to the abandoned barn and once arriving there, got to work putting up different symbols and other stuff just in case this angel really wasn't one after all. After that they sat around to wait. Bobby perched on the edge of a workbench, feet dangling, weapon in hand, whistling idly to himself, while Dean sat opposite, equally idle, messing around with a knife. John was sitting beside Bobby with gun and knife in his hands, while Sam stood beside his brother with knife in his hand. All were ready for this angel appear as soon as Sam performed a ritual from a book that explained how to summon different entities.

"You sure you performed the ritual right?" Dean sighed at length, sounding for all the world like a bored six-year-old asking '_are we there yet?'_ Sam just gave him a look that made him back down right away. "Sorry, touchy, touchy, huh?"

But just then, the roof started to shake loudly and they both leapt to their feet in alarm, shoulder to shoulder. "Wishful thinking, maybe it was just the wind," Dean hopefully suggested, knowing full well that it was not. And just then the door, heavily barred as it was, slowly opened inward and the man they've seen earlier walked into the barn.

Immediately Bobby and Dean raised their weapons and kept him covered, as he slowly, inexorably approached them. John and Sam did the same, while the man continued to walk towards them then stopped. In doing so, he also made all their weapons fly out of their hands and to the other side of the barn.

"Like I said, I'm not a demon or anything that wants to harm you. I'm an angel of the lord, sworn to protect Grace Mary Winchester and to change certain events from happening even though my father is not happy about it." the angel explained to all four men.

Dean rolled his eyes at what this so called angel was telling them "Sure you're an angel, what does that make me, a king?" he exaggerated.

"That's the problem with you Dean, you have no faith. I don't blame you nor does my father, not after what happened to your mother many years ago."

"Don't you dare, ever mention that again!" Dean exclaimed, anger visible on his face.

"I agree with what my son just said." John expressed his own anger.

"All of you lack faith, except Samuel here, he always prayed when he was younger." Castiel said and clearly felt, a demonstration was called for. Thunder crashed and lightning flashed, causing all four men to almost jump out of their skins and in those flashes of lightning the dark shadows of unfolding wings could be seen on the wall behind Castiel. The four hunters' watched and absorbed, working very hard at not wigging out completely and preparing the next salvo.

"Well, some angel you are." Dean grumbled.

"And what 'visage' are you in now, huh" John spoke up after that little light shoe.

"This?" Castiel glanced down at the body he was wearing. "This is a vessel." 

"You're possessing some poor bastard?" Dean said.

"He's a devout man. He actually prayed for this," Castiel shrugged.

"Look, pal, I'm not buying, what you're selling. So, who are you really?" Bobby questioned, while Sam just stood by, trying process all of it.

Castiel regarded him quizzically, unable to comprehend such mistrust and disbelief. "I told you," he pointed out.

"Just answer us the truth, why all of a sudden you show up now protect my daughter. You could have shown up two years ago and protected Jessica also" Sam finally spoke to the angel.

"Like I said, I wasn't allowed to protect Jessica. My life mission is to protect and guard Grace. In heaven there are different kinds of angels, my kind, we protect offsprings of families and watch over them. Dean, you had one but he disappeared years ago and Sam, I was supposed to be your guardian but something occurred to change that."

Dean shook his head in disbelief then sat down. "Sure I did!" he replied back.

"Me and my brother, who is an archangel, we came down here to change some events from happening the way they were supposed to. Some events changed and went differently. My father was not happy with it but he was not going change it." Castiel looks at all four of them, before continuing "I'll need leave but remember this, I was there when grace was in the womb, and I was there through everything else." He left it at that then walked out the barn disappearing into the night.

All four men looked at each other then decided to head back to the salvage yard and figure out what to do about the revelation this Castiel person told them.


End file.
